Annabeth's Point of View: Book One
by RainGold12521
Summary: This is the Percy Jackson and the lightning thief, but in Annabeth Chase's point of view. This is my first fanfiction story, so I hope you enjoy it. It is now successfully complete!
1. The One

1

Could this be the one?

I ran as fast as my legs could carry me, alongside Chiron. A young half-blood, about my age, lay in the entrance with Grover sprawled out to the left; the boy's hand scrunched around the scruff of Grover's neck. The boy looked terrible – tears stained his bruised and bloodied face. Matted dark hair swept across his forehead, his eyes totally obscured. This blue t-shirt looked torn and stained from the fight. He's not dead...well, I think.

As we neared, I could see the trickle of blood flowing from Grover's mouth. I began to think the worst, my heart pounding worse than Thalia's old rock music, but then I heard a groan of 'Food'. I couldn't help it as a smile flickered across my face – trust Grover to think of food at a time like this!

We finally reached them, and I collapsed onto my knees beside Grover. It is just so typical of Grover to get himself into another situation like this. First with Thalia, but this time, they made it. Could it be that..."He's the one. He must be."  
"Silence Annabeth," Chiron cautioned "He's still conscious. Bring him inside."

Despite him telling _me_ to bring him inside, he picked them both up and slung them over his back like luggage, cantering away into the darkness. I trudged back towards the camp, the bitter rain splattering against my face. Dozens of questions rampaged through my mind: Who is this kid? Could Grover have possibly found a child of the Big Three _again?_ Which child of the Big Three could he possibly be, or is this just another average demigod? What powers might he possess? Is he involved with what's going on at the summer solstice? What was it that was stolen anyhow? So much has gone off tonight. And a Minotaur! Why does some random kid get that lucky chance?

I eventually reached the Big House, wind whipping my hair across my face. As I entered, Mr D and Chiron suddenly ceased talking, both of them staring at me. They had obviously been talking about the boy and the prophecy, so I don't see why they shut up when I walked in – I already know all about the prophecy; well, most of it. I suppose they may have been talking about the summer solstice too – but I don't mind getting my fingers into a bit of information about that!  
"We have decided that it would be best if you were to nurse Percy-"  
"-Percy?"  
"The newbie" said Mr D in an impatient tone.  
"Yes, Percy-Percy Jackson- back to health." Chiron continued.  
"Erm, yeah, sure." I muttered, "But what about my normal duties?"  
"I'm sure we can work that out." Chiron said, waving away the matter, "Now, will you please go and look after our new guest - he's just in the other room."  
"Of course, sir," I said, and then walked over to the ajar door.

Just before I reached the door, I heard a mumble saying "Get away!" from inside the room. I opened the door quickly but silently and ran into the middle of the room. No one was there except Percy. It must have been Percy then, I realized, he must talk in his sleep. I walked quietly over to his bed, he twitched every so often. I picked the ambrosia and nectar off the side-cabinet that was next to the wooden bed, and spoon-fed him whenever he was semi-conscious. He kept on dribbling, I couldn't help but smirk, it was just like feeding a baby.

***Next Day***

Later on he mumbled a bit louder saying "I don't have any food!" What on earth was he dreaming about? After a few more boring minutes of spoon-feeding, I decided to get my new book on architecture, from my cabin, to entertain me. So I cautiously crept out of the Big house, and towards the cabins. I met my brother, Malcolm, at the door of the Athena cabin.

"What happened last night? Where have you been all morning? Who is the new kid everyone is talking about?" He threw question after question at me. I waited till he had finished his rant and then I finally spoke, "The answer to your first question is: Grover found another demi-god and they got attacked by a Minotaur. The answer to your second question is: Chiron asked me to feed the new boy-his name is Percy- ambrosia and nectar. And the answer to the last question that you asked me is: the new half-blood that Grover thinks is pretty powerful, but I think he is just another average demi-god, although he looks like no one else, so I don't know."

"Okay. So you won't be doing your camp chores for a while? I wonder who this new demi-gods god parent is..." he said thoughtfully (yeah, children of Athena tend to think a lot).

"Chiron said he is going to work something out so people can do my chores. Anyway, I need to get my book quick because I am not supposed to be out of the Big House yet. Bye."I pushed past him and walked over to cabin six. When I got inside, I walked over to my bunk at the back of the room and picked up the architecture book that was laying open, face-down, on my bed. Then I jogged back to the Big House and down the corridor and then into the room where Percy was still un-conscious on the bed.

I kept on spoon-feeding him and wiping bits of drool off his chin for a few more hours until he opened his eyes. I took the chance of speaking to him before he fell asleep again, "What will happen at the summer solstice?"

"What?" He croaked. I looked around, checking nobody was listening.

"What's going on? What was stolen? We've only got a few weeks!" He must know something if he was a son a one of the Big Three, then again he might just be an ordinary camper.

"I'm sorry," he mumbled, "I don't..."

Someone knocked on the door, I quickly filled his mouth with pudding; I didn't want to get caught not doing my job! Percy fell unconscious as soon as he gulped down the nectar. Chiron trotted in, his bow slung over his back- he must have just finished his archery class.

"Hello, Annabeth. Nice to see you've being nursing Percy. How's he doing? Has he woken yet?" Chiron asked.

"Hi, Chiron. He's doing fine. His cuts and bruises have gone, but he is still quite a bit pale. No, he hasn't woken up yet." I replied, I lied about him not waking up because I didn't want him scolding at me for not alerting him at once. Even if I did tell him, Percy would have fell unconscious more or less straight after I went to get Chiron.

"Yes, he seems to be making a fine recovery. He'll be up and about in no time. Well, I'd better go and deliver the news to Grover, he will be glad that the boy isn't dead," Chiron said, and then trotted out of the room and into the woods. I fed Percy another spoonful of nectar and then sat on a comfy arm-chair and read my book.

A few minutes later, my stomach rumbled, as if on cue, the conch horn sounded: breakfast time. I marked my page, fed Percy a tea-spoon of ambrosia, wiped drool off of his chin, and then left the room in a hurry to the dining pavilion.

Just as I sat down with my siblings at the Athena table, the nymphs came out of the trees and served us crunchy cereal. As I slowly ate my cereal, my thoughts wandered over to Percy. I wonder what Grover thinks is _so_ special about him. I mean, all Grover talks about nowadays is Percy this...Percy that...I still have trouble thinking that a half-blood, who hasn't had any training, can kill a Minotaur! I finished my meal and then went to the sword arena to practise. I hadn't practised for a while; nursing Percy had kept me busy.

When I got to the arena, I met Luke practising his moves with his sword- he is said to be the best sword-player in 300 years! I was just about to walk out and let him have some privacy, when he turned around and spotted me. "Hey, Annabeth," He gasped, his fore-head beaded with sweat.

"Hi, Luke, I see you've being practising hard," I said as I looked around the room, all the dummies had been shredded to pieces.

"Sorry, I should have left some for everyone else," He said guiltily.

"Oh, it's okay. The Hephaestus cabin have made some new ones, they're in the store cupboard," I said, trying to make him feel better.

"How long have you been standing there?" He asked.

"Not long, I just came in," I replied.

"Okay. Do you want to practise with me? I'll teach you some moves." He asked.

"Alright, but go easy on me though." I said.

"What? Easy? But you're really good with a knife, especially that one," He pointed to the knife that was strapped to my arm.

"Fine," I sighed. We battled for ages, and he kept on pressing me harder. He won most of the battles, I only won a few.

"I beat you! Haha," I laughed.

"I won most of them. I went easy on you on the ones that you beat me, though."

"You _so_ did not,"

"Yes I did!"

"Whatever, there is no point arguing with _you._ You never give up," I huffed. Luke smirked. I sheathed my knife, while Luke cleaned his sword."See you later," I said.

"Bye," He replied. As I walked back to the cabins I realized that I had left my book in the Big House. So I changed direction and headed to the Big House. I could smell the sweet scent of the strawberries as I past them. The smell filled my nostrils with goodness. Caster and Pollux must have been walking nearby or satyrs could be playing their reed pipes. I ran up the steps three at a time, with my hands in my pockets. I walked down the quiet creaky corridor. I then turned left into the room that was occupied by Percy. I spotted my book on the arm of the armchair and cautiously walked across the room. I noticed that Percy was shivering so I fed him two spoonfuls of nectar and threw another blanket over him, he ceased shivering then. I took one last look that everything was okay and then closed the door quietly and headed back towards the cabins, again.

***In The Athena Cabin***

I sat on my bed and read my book; I finished it in the hour, I know, I am a very fast reader. I decided to design a monument that I would like to make in the future. So I decided it was going to be a very, _very _important house for someone who is famous or important .e.g. the prime minister. Or it was going to be a very, _very_ special building for a well-known company. I sketched it, erased a bit, improved it, sketched it, erased a bit, improved it. I did that again and again until I was satisfied with it. Katie, my sister, **(A/N it doesn't tell you any other names of the Athena children in the book so I made a name up) **came in while I was admiring my handi-work, figuring out a way to improve it.

"Awesome! That looks really good, Annabeth! You are going to be a fantastic architect someday," She said, amazed.

"Thanks, but I'm sure your just as good, Katie," I smiled at her.

"No way am I _that_ good," She said, "I've got to go to the volley ball courts now, Tracy wants to have a match. See you around," She walked out the door, closing it gently. After a while, I decided to stick with my monument, if I changed it any more I would end up ruining it.

A few hours later, the conch horn sounded again: lunch time. I got up of the floor, put my pencil back on the wooden table, had one last look at my new monument, and then headed to the mess hall (dining pavilion).

Mmmm...jacket potato with cheese and beans, one of my favourites. While we ate, we talked about architecture (obviously), and what we had done during the day. It turned out that every one of my siblings had a more interesting day than me, although, mine was quiet funny when Percy talked in his sleep.

"I had a canoe race with the Hermes cabin, my team won because we had the best strategies." Malcolm boasted.

"I beat Tracy at volley-ball. She wasn't very good at it, don't tell her I said that," Katie whispered, then she said (not whispering), "So Annabeth, what did you do today?"

"Erm..., it was pretty boring actually, I fed Percy- the new demi-god- nectar-"

"Percy? Isn't that the new half-blood that killed the Minotaur with his bare hands? Awesome! All camp has been talking about him and how he had the lucky chance to kill it..."Tyler, another sibling, ranted on and on about Percy. The conversation always ends about Percy, nowadays. Poor kid, he'll be badgered with questions as soon as he's conscious, or maybe he won't be the big gossip when he wakes up. As soon as I had finished my lunch, I decided to climb the climbing wall. So I turned right and jogged up to the wall.

When I got there, I put on some protective gear, and then sprinted up the wall like a cheater. I reached the top with a minute and a half before the lava was due to fall. I was quite pleased with myself- I had beaten my high score by six seconds. I slid down the rope, onto the hard ground. I caught my breath before running back to my cabin to get some rest before the campfire at 8:10.

***A Few Hours Later***

The conch horn sounded. All the Athena cabin-10 children in all- lined up in senior order behind me, I had been at camp longer than everyone, except Luke, so I had the right to lead the line. When everybody was lined up, I started to walk towards the mess hall. All the other cabins were doing the same behind their cabin counsellor.

Once everyone was settled at their cabin table, the nymphs came out of the trees and served us: spaghetti bolognaise.

"Cherry coke" I said into my cup. Instantly, the cup was filled with fizzing cherry coke. I saved my two fattest, nicest looking meat balls for the offering. When I had finished, I got up and walked over to the fire in the middle of the pavilion. I scraped my meat balls into the fire whilst saying "Athena". The sweet smell of olives, filled my nose. I breathed the smell in for a moment and then I turned and sat down at my table.

"As a reminder to you brats, there is a campfire at 8:10 tonight,"Mr D said tonelessly. the camp filed out of the pavaloin, group by group. I could'nt be bothered going to the campfire, it was already 8:00. So I went to my cabin instead and slept.

***One Day Later***

I went to find Grover because Percy was just about awake now. I found him in the forest playing his reed pipes. Everyone at camp, even grover admitted it, new Grover was rubbish at playing the reed pipes, although he was improving over the years. I covered my ears and walked over to him. I had to shout over the noise, "GROVER!,"

Grover gave a startled jump and turned around. He grinned and said "Hey, Annabeth," I took my hands away from my ears and said,"Percy is nearly awake he keeps on waking up for a while and then goes to sleep, thought you ought to know, he will be able to walk round camp and train some point today,"

"Cool! I'll go visit him now, I take him outside for some fresh air. He's been cooped up to long in that house." He jumped up, put his reed pipes in his pouch that was hung around his waist, and ran off to the Big House. I decided to wait in the porch for Grover in case he needed help, so I started to walk slowly to the Big House. When I got to the porch Chiron (in his wheelchair) noticed me and waved me over.

"Hello, Annabeth. Going to see Percy or looking for Grover?" Chiron asked.

"I was going to help Grover because he was going to try and bring Percy outside..." I replied.

"Oh, Grover already brought him out side, he's on the other side of the porch," Chiron said.

"The satyr was galloping like a lunatic up to the house!" Mr D (Dionysus) exclaimed. Chiron rolled his eyes.

"He used his pipes to help him get Percy to the other side of the house, I think Grover is Feeding him nectar so he'll wake up quickly,"

"Okay, I'll just wait here then," I said.

"Great, you can play pinochle with us while you are waiting," Mr D said with a grin on his face, I sighed. I was just about to lift myself off the railing when Percy came round the corner, followed by Grover. Grover mumbled something to Percy, and then pointed at Chiron. Chiron turned and smiled at Percy, who was clutching a box that had a Minatour horn in it.

"Ah, good, Percy," Chiron said," "Now we have four for pinochle,"

He offered Percy a seat to the right of Mr D, who looked at Percy with bloodshot eyes and heaved a great big sigh."Oh, I suppose I must say it. Welcome to Camp Half-Blood. There. Now don't expect me to be glad to see you,"

"Oh, thanks." Percy scooted a little further away from him.

"Annabeth?" Chiron called to me.

I came forward and Chiron introduced us."This young lady nursed you back to health, Percy. Annabeth, my dear, why don't you go check on Percy's bunk? We'll be putting him in cabin eleven for now,"

"Sure, Chiron," I said. I looked at Percy, he was probably about my age, a couple of centimetres smaller. With his normal shade of skin and short, messy, very dark brown hair, he was exactly what I thought an ordinary Manhattan boy, except his eyes were amazing. They were a magnificent deep shade of green and blue- a sea green colour. When you looked into them it felt like you were staring at the peaceful ocean.

I glanced at the Minotaur horn in his hands, then back at him. He probably wanted me to say something like, _Wow, you killed a Minatour!_ But his eyes had startled me so I said the first thing that can to my mind, "You drool in your sleep."

Then I sprinted down the lawn, not wanting to make him feel more embarrassed. I ran and ran until I reached the cabins. I walked over to the Hermes cabin- cabin eleven- and knocked on the door. Luke answered the door, I blushed a tiny bit.

"Hi. Erm..., Chiron said to make room for Percy in here," I said, looking inside the cabin, it was jam-packed.

"Okay," He smiled, and then turned and faced the cabin and shouted over the noise "Make room, make room, come on. We've got a new camper coming soon."

The cabin groaned. Luke grabbed a sleeping bag from one of the cupboards and placed it on the floor at the back of the cabin.

"There we are," Luke said walking back to me, "All sorted."

"Thanks, bye."

"See you," Luke said. I walked out; Luke closed the door behind me. I went back to my cabin and grabbed a book, and then went back outside, to sit in front of cabin eleven and read while I waited for Percy to come.

A few minutes later, Percy, along with Chiron (in centaur form), came over to me. When they reached me, I looked Percy over, still wondering how someone could have such nice eyes. He looked at my book, squinting at the title.

"Annabeth," Chiron said, "I have masters' archery at noon. Would you take Percy from here?"

"Yes, sir"

"Cabin eleven," Chiron told Percy, gesturing towards the doorway. "Make yourself at home," i let Percy study the outside of the cabin before I opened the door.

Chiron didn't go in, the door was too low for him. But when the campers saw him, they all stood and bowed respectfully.

"Well then," Chiron said, "good luck Percy. I'll see you at dinner."

He galloped away towards the Archery range. Percy stood in the doorway as still as a statue. I figured he wasn't going to move so I helped him. "Well? " I prompted "Go on, " Percy started to slowly walk in but tripped before he took his first step. This is going to be a disaster. A few people sniggered, but none of them said anything.

I announced "Percy Jackson, meet cabin eleven,"

"Regular or undetermined?" A Hermes kid asked. Percy looked at me, not knowing what to say.

"Undetermined" I said.

Everybody groaned.

Luke came forward. "Now now campers. That's what we are here for. Welcome, Percy. You can have that spot on the floor right over there."

I smiled. Isn't he welcoming?

"This is Luke" I said. Percy was looking at me. "He is your counsellor for now"

"For now?" Percy asked

"You're undetermined" Luke explained patiently. "They don't know what cabin to put you in, so you're here. Cabin eleven takes all newcomers, all visitors. Naturally, we would. Hermes, our patron, is the god of travellers," Percy looked at the spot that he now owned, then he looked at all the campers face's.

"How long will I be here?" He asked.

"Good question," Luke said, "Until you're determined."

"How long will that take?"

The campers laughed. I decided to save him from more embarrassment.

"Come on," I told him," I'll show you the volleyball courts."

"I've already seen it," Can't he see that I am trying to make this less embarrassing?

"Come on,"

I grabbed his wrist and dragged it outside. I could hear all the kids of cabin eleven laughing at him.

When we a few metres away, I said, "Jackson, you have to do better than that."

"What?"

I rolled my eyes and mumbled under my breath, "I can't believe I thought you were the one."

"What's your problem?" He was getting angry now, "All I know is, I kill some bull guy-"

"Don't talk like that," I told him, "You know how many kids at this camp wish they'd had your chance?"

"To get killed?"

"To fight the Minotaur! What do you think we train for?"

He shook his head, "Look, if the thing I fought really was _the_ Minotaur, the same one in the stories..."

"Yes." Get on with it.

"Then there's only one."

"Yes." Your point?

"And he died like a gajillion years ago, right? Theseus killed him in the labyrinth. So..."

"Monsters don't die, Percy. They can be killed. But they don't die."

"Oh, thanks. That clears it all up."

"They don't have souls like you and me. You can dispel them for a while, maybe even a lifetime, if you're lucky. But they are primal forces. Chiron calls them archetypes. Eventually, they re-form."

He was silent for a moment and then, "You mean if I killed one, accidently, with a sword-"

"The Fu... I mean your Maths teacher. That's right. She's still out there. You just made her very, very mad."

"How did you know about Mrs Dodds?"

"You talk in your sleep."

"You almost called her something. A Fury? They're Hades' torturers, right?"

I glanced nervously at the ground. "You shouldn't call them by name, even here. We call them the Kindly Ones, if we have to speak of them at all."

"Look, is there anything we _can _say without it thundering?" He sounded a little whiny, but he didn't seem to care. "Why do I have to stay in cabin eleven anyway? Why is everyone so crowded together? There are plenty of empty bunks right over there."

He pointed to the first few cabins, the three main cabins. "You don't just choose a cabin, Percy. It depends on who your parents are...or parent."

I stared at him, waiting for him to understand.

"My mom is Sally Jackson," He said, "She works at the candy store in Grand Central Station. At least, she used to."

"I'm sorry about your mom, Percy. But that's not what I mean. I'm talking about your other parent. Your dad." Duh! I did feel a bit sorry for him; he had no family now, except for his god parent. But it's not like they are going to look after him.

"He's dead. I never knew him."

I sighed. I'd had this convocation before, "Your fathers not dead, Percy."

"How can you say that? You know him?"

"No, of course not."

"Then how can you say-"

"Because I know _you_. You couldn't be here if you weren't one of us."

"You don't know anything about me." He's _so _stubborn.

"No?" I raised an eyebrow. "I bet you moved around from school to school. I bet you were kicked out a lot of them."

"How-"

"Diagnosed with dyslexia. Probably ADHD, too."

"What does that have to do with anything?" He looked embarrassed, there was no need to be, everyone here had dyslexia and mostly everyone had ADHD.

"Taken together, it's almost a sure sign. The letters float off the page when you read, right? That's because your mind is hardwired for ancient Greek. And the ADHD- your impulsive, can't sit still in the classroom. That's your battle reflexes. In a real fight, they'd keep you alive. As for the attention problems, that's because you see too much, Percy, not too little. Your senses are better than a regular mortal. Of course, the teachers want you medicated. Most of them are monsters. They don't you seeing them for what they are."

"You sound like...you went through the same thing?"

"Most of the kids here did. If you weren't like one of us, you couldn't of survived the Minotaur, much less the ambrosia and nectar."

"Ambrosia and nectar."

"The food and drink we were giving you to make you better. That stuff would've killed a normal kid. It would've turned your blood to fire and your bones to sand and you'd be dead. Face it. You're a half-blood."

A few minutes later a husky voice from behind yelled, "Well! A newbie!"

I turned round to look at Clarisse and three of her big, ugly friends. As always, they all looked mean-looking like Clarisse; they all were wearing camo jackets.

"Clarisse," I sighed, "Why don't you go polish your spear or something?"

"Sure, Miss Princess," She said, "So I can run you through with it Friday night."

"_Errete es korakas,_" I cursed, in Greek it meant 'Go to the crows', it was a worse curse than it sounded. "You don't stand a chance."

"We'll pulverize you," she said, but her eye twitched. She turned towards Percy. Uh oh..."Who's this little runt?"

"Percy Jackson," I said, "meet Clarisse, Daughter of Ares.

He blinked. "Like...the war god?"

Clarisse sneered. "You got a problem with that?"

"No," he said, then he said really unwise, "It explains the bad smell."

Clarisse growled, "We got an initiation ceremony for newbies, Prissy."

"Percy" He corrected.

"Whatever. Come on, I'll show you."

"Clarisse-" I tried to say.

"Stay out of it, wise girl."

This is going to be real bad. But I stayed out of it, Percy didn't argue. Her probably thought he could handle it, idiot.

He handed me his Minotaur horn. Before Percy had time to think, Clarisse had him by the neck and was dragging him towards the cinder-block building: the bathroom.

Percy was kicking and punching, but it took no effect on Clarisse at all. I followed them, keeping my distance. She was taking him to the girls' bathroom.

Clarisse's friends were all laughing.

"Like he's 'Big Three' material." She pushed him towards the toilets. "Yeah, right. Minotaur probably fell over laughing, he was so stupid looking."

Her friends snickered.

Percy looked at me, where I stood in a corner, watching through my fingers.

Clarisse steered him over the toilet and started to push his head towards to toilet bowl. Percy was trying really had not to have his head dunked in the toilet.

Then something happened. The plumbing started to rumble, the pipes started to shudder. Suddenly, water shot out of the toilet, making an arc over Percy's head. They water was aiming at Clarisse. More water shot out of the toilet, hitting Clarisse bang on the face, so hard, it pushed her onto her butt. The water stayed on her like the spray from a fire hose, pushing her backwards into a shower stall.

She struggled, gasping, and her friends started coming towards her. But at that moment, the other toilets exploded with water, even the showers acted up. Some of the water hit me, I was drenched. They water carried on until it had pushed the camouflaged girls right out of the bathroom.

Then the water shut off completely.

The entire bathroom was flooded. I hadn't even been spared. I was dripping wet, but I hadn't been pushed out the door. I was standing in the exact same place as before, staring at Percy in shock, not a single part of him was wet. He looked down at himself and the dry spot on the floor, where he had sat.

He stood up, his legs shaking.

I said, "How did you..."

"I don't know" What a stupid answer, you were the one who made the water come. I think he would make a good team mate at capture the flag.

We walked to the door. Outside, Clarisse and her friends were sprawled in the mud, and a bunch of other campers had gathered around to gawk. Clarisse's hair was flattened across her face. Her camouflage jacket was sopping and smelled like sewage. She gave Percy one of her famous, evil, hatred glares. "You are dead, new boy. You are totally dead."

Percy said, "You want to gargle with toilet water again, Clarisse? Close your mouth."

Her friends had to hold her back. The dragged her towards cabin five, while the other campers made way to avoid her flailing feet.

I stared at Percy. Percy looked at me.

"What?" He demanded, "What are you thinking?"

"I'm thinking," I said, "that I want you on my team for capture the flag."


	2. New Kid, New Gossip

2

Word of the bathroom incident spread immediately like wildfire around camp. I seceded to dry off in the sun so I showed Percy parts of camp that he hadn't seen: the forges (where kids were forging their own swords), the arts-and-crafts room (where satyrs were sandblasting a giant marble statue of the lord of the wild, Pan), and the climbing wall.

Finally we returned to the canoeing lake, where the trail led back to the cabins.

"I've got training to do," I said flatly. "Dinners at seven thirty. Just follow your cabin to the mess hall."

"Annabeth, I'm sorry about the toilets."

"Whatever."

"It wasn't my fault."

I looked at him sceptically; it _was_ his fault, really.

"You need to talk to the Oracle." I said.

"Who?"

"Not who. What. The Oracle. I'll ask Chiron."

He stared at the lake; two water naiads were sat there, cross-legged at the base of the pier. They wore blue jeans and shimmering green T-shirts, their brown hair floated loose around their shoulders as minnows darted in and out. They waved at Percy, flirtingly. Percy waved back.

"Don't encourage them." I warned. "Naiads are terrible flirts."

"Naiads." He repeated. "That's it. I want to go home now."

I frowned. "Don't you get it, Percy? You _are_ home. This is the only safe place on earth for kids like us."

"You mean, mentally disturbed kids?"

"I mean _not human_. Not totally human, anyway. Half-human."

"Half-human and half-what?"

"I think you know."

"God," Percy said. "Half-god."

I nodded. "Your father isn't dead, Percy. He's one of the Olympians.

"That's...crazy."

"Is it? What's the most common things god did in the old stories? They ran around falling in love with humans and having kids with them. Do you think they've changed their habits in the last few millennia?"

"But those are just-" He almost said _myths_. Then he stopped himself. "But if all the kids here are half-gods-"

"Demigods," I interrupted, "That's the official term. Or half-bloods."

"Then who's your dad?"

My hands tightened around the pier railing, I did not like talking about this particular subject.

"My dad is a professor at West Point," I said. "I haven't seen him since I was very small. He teaches American history."

"He's human."

"What? You assume it has to be a male god who finds a human female attractive? How sexist is that?"

"Who's your mom then?"

"Cabin six."

"Meaning?"

I straightened. "Athena. Goddess of wisdom and battle."

"And my dad?"

"Undetermined." I said, "like I told you before. Nobody knows."

"Except my mother. She knew."

"Maybe not, Percy. Gods don't always reveal their identities."

"My dad would have. He loved her."

I didn't want to burst his bubble so I said, "Maybe your right. Maybe he'll send us a sign. That's the only way to know for sure: your father has too send you a sign claiming you as his son. Sometimes it happens."

"You mean sometimes it doesn't?"

I ran my palm along the rail. "The gods are busy. They have a lot of kids and they don't always...Well, sometimes they don't care about us, Percy. They ignore us."

He thought about it for a while until he said, "So I'm stuck here," and then, "That's it? For the rest of my life?"

"It depends," I said, "Some campers only stay the summer. If you're a child of Aphrodite or Demeter, you're probably not a real powerful force. The monsters might ignore you, so you can get by with a few months of summer training and live in the mortal world the rest of the year. But for some of us, it's too dangerous to leave. We're year-rounders. In the mortal world, we attract monsters. They sense us. They come to challenge us. Most of the time, they'll ignore us until we're old enough to cause trouble- about ten or eleven years old- but after that most demigods either make their way here, or they get killed off. A few manage to survive in the outside world and become famous. Believe me, if I told you the names, you'd know them. Some don't even realize they're demigods. But very, very few are like that."  
"So monsters can't get in here?"

I shook my head. "Not unless they're intentionally stocked in the woods or specially summoned by somebody on the inside."

"Why would anybody want to summon a monster?"

"Practise fights. Practical jokes."  
"Practical jokes?"

"The point is, the borders are sealed to keep mortals and monsters out. From the outside, mortals look into the valley and see nothing unusual, just a strawberry farm."

"So...you're a year-rounder?"

I nodded. From under the collar of my T-shirt I pulled a leather necklace with five clay beads of different colours and a large gold ring strung on it, my father's collage ring.

"I've been here since I was seven," I said, "Every August, on the last day of summer session, you get a bead for surviving another year. I've been here longer than most of the counsellors, and they're all in college."  
"Why did you come so young?"

I twisted the ring on my necklace. "None of your business."

"Oh." He stood there for a minute and then said. "So...I could walk out here right now if I wanted to?"

"It would be suicide, but you could, with Mr D's or Chiron's permission. But they wouldn't give you permission unless..."

"Unless?"

"You were granted a quest. But that hardly ever happens. The last time..." I didn't like to think about it.

"Back in the sick room," He said, "When you were feeding me that stuff..."

"Ambrosia."

"Yeah. You asked me something about the summer solstice."

My shoulders tensed, so he_ might_ actually know something..."So you _do_ know something?"

"Well...no. Back at my old school, I overheard Grover and Chiron talking about it. Grover mentioned the summer solstice. He said something like we didn't have much time, because of the deadline. What did that mean?"

I clenched my fists. "I wish I knew. Chiron and the satyrs, they know, but they won't tell me. Something is wrong in Olympus, something pretty major. Last time I was there, everything was so_ normal_."

"You've been to Olympus?"

"Some of us year-rounders – Luke and Clarisse and I and a few others- we took a field trip during the winter solstice. That when the gods have their big annual council."

"But...How did you get there?"

"The Long Island Railroad, of course. You get off at the Penn Station. Empire State Building, special elevator to the six-hundredth floor."I looked at him, he must know already where the most important building is in the western civilization! "You _are _a New Yorker right?"

"Oh, sure."

It was silent for a bit until I said "Right after we visited," I continued, "the weather got weird, as if the gods had started fighting. A couple of time since, I've overheard satyrs talking. The best I can figure out is that something important was stolen. And if it isn't returned by the summer solstice, there's going to be trouble. When you came, I was hoping...I mean- Athena can get along with just about anybody, except for Ares. And of course she's got that rivalry with Poseidon. But, I mean, aside from that, I thought we could work together. I thought you might know something."

He shook his head. Too bad, I thought.

"I've got to get a quest," I muttered to myself, "I'm _not _too young. If they would just tell me the problem..."

The smell of barbecue smoke was coming from the kitchens, near the mess hall.

Percy's stomach growled quietly.

"Go on," I smiled, "I'll catch you later."

"Okay. Bye," He left me at the pier, I traced the tiny lines that were engraved on the railing.

A few minutes later, I looked to the east; it was nearly time for dinner. I started to head towards the Athena cabin. Just as I got inside the cabin the conch horn blew. "Cabin six, fall in!" I shouted. The whole cabin, about ten of us, filed into the commons yard. We lined up in seniority order; I was at the very front of the line because I had been at camp the longest. Campers came from the other cabins, too, except for the three main cabins and Artemis' cabin.

We marched up the hill to the mess hall pavilion. Satyrs joined us from the meadow. Naiads emerged from the canoeing lake. The wood nymphs came out of the trees and skipped up towards the pavilion.

In all, there were hundreds of campers, a few dozen satyrs, and a dozen assorted wood nymphs and naiads.

At the pavilion, torches blazed around the marble columns. The central fire burned in a bronze brazier the size of a bathtub. Each cabin sat at their own table. Four tables were empty, but the Hermes cabin table was over crowded, I could see Percy squeezing on the end.

Grover was sat at table twelve with a bunch of other satyrs and Mr D. Chiron stood to one side, they table being way too small for a centaur.

Clarisse was sat at the table behind Percy. She seemed to have got over being hosed down because she was laughing and belching loudly, right alongside her siblings.

Finally, Chiron pounded his hoof on the marble floor of the pavilion. Everybody fell silent. He raised his glass. "To the gods!"

Everybody else raised their glasses. "To the gods!"

Wood nymphs came forward with platters of food: grapes, apples, strawberries, cheese, fresh bread and barbecue. I took my cup and said, "Mineral water," The cup was instantly filled with clear, fresh water.

"Here, Annabeth," Katie passed me some fresh bread and warm, smoking chicken.

"Thanks," I said. I loaded my plate with more food and then got up and walked over to the fire. I scraped a portion of my meal into the fire saying "Athena," The smell of fresh olives filled my nose.

When everybody had finished their meals, Chiron pounded his hoof on the floor again for our attention.

Mr D got up with a huge sigh. "Yes, I suppose I'd better say hello to you brats. Well, hello. Our activities director, Chiron, says the next capture the flag is Friday. Cabin five presently holds the laurels."

The Ares cabin cheered.

"Personally," Mr D continued, "I couldn't care less, but congratulations. Also, I should tell you that we have a new camper today. Peter Johnson."

Chiron murmured something.

"Er, Percy Jackson," Mr D corrected. "That's right. Hurrah, and all that. Now run along to your silly campfire. Go on."

Everybody cheered. We all headed down towards the amphitheatre, where Apollo's cabin led the sing-along. We sang camp songs about the gods and ate toasted marshmallows. The Hermes cabin was stealing lots of marshmallows out of the marshmallow bowl, nobody noticed.

Later in the evening, when the sparks from the campfire were curling into a starry sky, the conch horn blew again, and we all filed back into our cabins.

When all my siblings were in bed I called "Lights out" The lights switched off. And as soon as I closed my eyes I fell to sleep.


	3. Claimed!

3

The next few days I settled Percy into a new routine. Each morning he took Ancient Greek from me in the morning, and we talked about the gods and the goddesses in the present tense, which Percy said he thought was weird. He found reading Ancient Greek no harder than reading English.

No offense to Percy, but he was pretty much rubbish at everything except canoeing. He hadn't tried swordplay yet though, he might be good at that. I got the feeling Percy was getting impatient in finding out who his dad was.

Friday came round quickly. After dinner, there was a lot of excitement. At last, it was time for capture the flag.

When the plates were cleared away, the conch horn sounded and we all stood at our tables. Me, Malcolm and Katie ran into the pavilion holding a silk banner. It was about three metres long, glistening grey, with a painting of a barn owl above an olive tree. I thought it looked amazing.

From the opposite side of the pavilion, Clarisse and her buddies ran in with another banner, identical size, but gaudy red, painted with a bloody spear and a boars head. It was perfect for the Ares cabin. A couple of cabins cheered for the Ares cabin, but we had more people because the cabins we had allied with were massive, so our cheer was louder. I smirked at Clarisse. She gave me a glare.

The teams were announced. Athena had made alliance with Apollo and Hermes, the two biggest cabins.

Ares had allied with everyone else, but their team was still smaller. The teams they had allied with were: Dionysus, Demeter Aphrodite and Hephaestus. They Dionysus kids were good athletes, but there were only two of them. Demeter's kids had the edge with nature skills and outdoor stuff, but they weren't very aggressive. Aphrodite's sons and daughters were going to be worthless team mates. They mostly sat out of every activity and checked their reflections in the lake and did their hair and gossiped. Hephaestus' kids weren't pretty, and there were only four of them, but they were big and burly from working in the metal shop all day. They might be a problem, but definitely not a hard one. That, of course, left the Ares cabin: a dozen of the biggest, ugliest, meanest kids on Long Island, or anywhere else on the planet. All in all, I thought we had a good chance in capturing the flag.

Chiron hammered his hoof on the marble.

"Heroes!" He announced. "You know the rules. The creek is the boundary line. The entire forest is fair game. All magic items are allowed. The banner must be prominently displayed, and have no more than two guards. Prisoners may be disarmed, but may not be bound or gagged. No killing or maiming is allowed. I will serve as referee and battlefield medic. Arm yourselves!" My invisibility cap was in my pocket and my knife strapped to my arm.

Chiron spread his hands, and the tables were suddenly covered with equipment: helmets, bronze swords, spears, oxhide shields coated in metal. I picked up a helmet with a blue horsehair plume. Ares and their allies had a red plume. When I had got all my armour on and checked that my team all had their armour on, I shouted, "Blue team, forward!"

My team cheered and shook their swords and followed me down the path to the south woods. The red team yelled taunts at us as they headed off towards the north.

"Hey," A voice said behind me. I turned around, it was Percy. I carried on marching forward.

"So what's the plan?" He asked, "Got any magic items you can loan me?"

My hand drifted towards my pocket were my cap, that my mother, Athena, had given me for my twelfth birthday, was. Should I give it to him to borrow? He'll need it more than me. No, I might need it at some point.

"Just watch Clarisse's spear." I advised, "You don't want that thing touching you. Otherwise, don't worry. We'll take the banner from Ares. Has Luke given you your job?"

"Border patrol, whatever that means." That goes with my plan: he'll distract Clarisse.

"It's easy. Stand by the creek, keep the reds away. Leave the rest to me. Athena always has a plan."

I pushed ahead, leaving him in the dust. The conch horn sounded, the battle had begun.

Once I was alone, I pulled my hat out of my pocket and placed it on my head. I shimmered until I was invisible. I unsheathed my knife and set off into the fight.

I cut anyone who was not on my team, until I got to the point where two Ares campers were guarding the flag. This is too easy, I thought, the Ares kids are a bunch of dumbos. I used the reflection of my knife to make the Ares campers follow the knife's light. They stopped circling the flag and moved towards the light. I moved the light so they had to walk a little further. When they were a couple of metres away, I could of easily grabbed the flag and run to the creek, but I let Luke grab the flag. All my team were screaming in joy, we had caught the flag! I helped fend off the opponents. Caught A glimpse of Percy, he had got all of the Ares kids that he had been attacked by on their butts! I was going to help fight them off but he seemed to have done it already. I jabbed my opponent in the head with the bottom of my knife, creating a bruise. He stumbled onto the ground.

I ran over to Percy, I don't think he had noticed me yet so I said to him, still invisible, "Not bad, hero,"

He looked around but he couldn't see me. "Where the heck did you learn to fight like that?" I asked. I took my cap off and I shimmered into existence.

He seemed angry. "You set me up," He said, "You put me here because you knew Clarisse would come after me, while you sent Luke around the flank. You had it all figure out."

I shrugged. "I told you. Athena always, always has a plan."

"A plan to get me pulverized."

"I came as fast as I could. I was about to jump in, but..."I shrugged, "You didn't need help."

Then I noticed his wounded arm. "How did you do that?"

"Sword cut" He said. "What do you think?"

"No. It _was_ a sword cut. Look at it." The wound was completely healed, except for a white scar that was slowly fading.

"I-I don't get it" He said. I was thinking hard, could he really be one of the big three's sons? I looked down where he was standing: in the water, then at Clarisse's spear. Uh oh. I said, "Step out of the water, Percy."

"What-"

"Just do it."

He came out of the creek and nearly fell over. I caught him just before he fell.

"Oh, Styx," I cursed, "This is _not_ good. I didn't want...I assumed it would be Zeus..."

Then, at that moment, I heard a growl, very close. A howl ripped through the forest.

The campers' cheering died instantly. Chiron shouted in Ancient Greek, "Stand ready! My bow!"

I drew my sword that was strapped to my belt.

There on the rocks above us was a black hellhound the size of a rhino, with lava red eyes and fangs like daggers.

It was looking straight a Percy. His scent was the strongest because he was the son of Poseidon. I had figure out which son of the big three because he got strength from water and became weak when he wasn't touching it.

Nobody moved except me, who yelled "Percy, run!"

I tried to step in front of him, but they hellhound was way too fast. It leaped over me- covering me in an enormous shadow- and just as it hit Percy, as he stumbled backwards. It started to rip its way through Percy's armour, any second now it would be tearing Percy to a million pieces. Then the entire Apollo cabin shot arrows straight at the monsters neck, it fell dead at Percy's feet. Percy was bleeding very badly.

Chiron trotted up to us, a bow in his hand, his face grim.

"_Di immortals,_" I said, "That's a hellhound from the fields of punishment. They don't...they're not supposed to..."

"Someone summoned it," Chiron said. "Someone inside the camp."

Luke came over, the banner in his hand forgotten, his moment of glory gone.

Clarisse yelled, "It's all Percy's fault! Percy summoned it!"

"Be quiet, child," Chiron told her.

We watched the body of the hellhound melt into shadow, soaking into the ground until it disappeared. Percy was bleeding quite a lot. The water would heal him like it did before.

"You're wounded," I told him. "Quick, Percy, get in the water."

"I'm okay,"

"No, you're not," I said, "Chiron, watch this."

Percy stepped backwards into the water without any more complaints.

Instantly, his wounds started healing until they disappeared. When the wounds had healed, a green light formed just above Percy's head, it kept on glowing until it formed the shape of a trident. My fear was proved; Percy was the son of Poseidon.

Percy didn't seem to notice. "Look, I-I don't know why." No-one was listening, they were staring at the trident. "I'm sorry..."

"Percy," I said, "Um..."

By the time he looked up, the sign was already fading.

"Your father," I murmured, "This is_ really _not good."

"It is determined," Chiron announced.

All the campers, including me, started kneeling, though they Ares campers didn't look happy by it.

"My father?" Percy asked, completely bewildered.

"Poseidon," said Chiron, "Earthshaker, Stormbringer, Father of Horses, Perseus Jackson, Son of the Sea God."


	4. Chance To Join a Quest

4

The next morning, Percy was moved to cabin three. Anyone could tell he wasn't happy about it. I think he feels lonely. The whole camp was talking about the hellhound attack, but stopped immediately when Percy was near. I think he knew what they were talking about him when they suddenly just shut up when he was near.

When I taught him Greek in the morning, I always got distracted by my own thoughts. Percy would stare at me and stop reading when I zoned out. Then he'd say something and interrupt me, when I was thinking of a way to get a quest. I had a lot of different questions going through my mind: Poseidon's child? What powers will he have then? That god has a rivalry with my mother; will Percy and I get along, now? We can still be friends, though.

I could tell that Percy was getting annoyed with everyone for ignoring him.

***Next Morning***

Chiron came to my cabin early in the morning, before the sun had come out. A thunderous storm was brewing. He asked me to come to the Big House.  
"Come quickly. This may be your chance to have a quest, Annabeth," Chiron told me, "Bring your cap,"  
My mouth opened slightly, I had been waiting to go on a quest since I was seven. I shot out of bed quickly, got dressed in casual clothes, put my cap of invisibility on my head, and hurriedly ran after Chiron.  
He was heading to the Big House; I could see Mr D sitting in the porch, play pinochle (obviously). Around camp, everyone was doing their normal activities, but everything was tense; many eyes constantly glanced at the storm.  
I sat on a chair to the right of Mr D; Chiron dealed the cards, giving us five cards each. Mr D was wearing his tiger-striped Hawaiian shirt, beige knee length shorts, purple socks and trainers; his diet coke was situated right in front of him. We played pinochle until Percy and Grover came into the porch.  
"Well, well," Mr D said without looking up, he definitely was not in a good mood. "Our little celebrity."  
Percy didn't say anything.  
"Come closer," Mr D said, "And don't expect me to kowtow you, mortal, just because old Barnacle-beard is your father."  
A net of lightning flashed across the sky. Thunder shook the windows of the house.  
"Blah, blah, blah," Dionysus said.  
Chiron pretended to be really interested in his cards, Grover cowered by the railing, his hooves clopping back and forth."  
"If I had my way," Dionysus said, "I would cause your molecules to erupt in flames. We'd sweep up the ashes and be done with a lot of trouble. But Chiron seems to feel this would be against my mission at this cursed camp: to keep you little brats safe from harm."  
"Spontaneous combustion _is _a form of harm, Mr D," Chiron put in.  
"Nonsense," Dionysus said, "Boy wouldn't feel a thing. Nevertheless, I've agreed to sustain myself. I'm thinking of turning you into a dolphin instead, sending you back to your father."  
"Mr D-" Chiron warned.  
"Oh, alright," Dionysus relented, "There's one more option. But it's deadly foolishness." Dionysus rose. I thought Mr D was going to give him a quest that Chiron was going on about, so I dropped my cards thinking this was my chance to go on a quest, even if it was with a child of one of the Big Three. "I'm off to Olympus for the emergency meeting. If the boy is still here when I get back, I'll turn him into a Atlantic bottlenose. Do you understand? And Perseus Jackson, if you're all that smart, you'll see that's a much more sensible choice than what Chiron feels you must do."  
Dionysus picked up a playing card, twisted it, and turned it in to a security Olympus pass.  
He snapped his fingers.

The air seemed to fold and bend around him. He became a holograph, then a wind, then he was gone, leaving the smell of fresh grapes behind.  
Chiron turned his back to me and spoke to Percy and Grover. "Sit, Percy, please. And Grover."  
They did.  
Chiron laid his hands on the table, setting down a winning card he hadn't got to use.  
"Tell me , Percy," He said, "What did you make of the hellhound?"  
Percy shuddered when he said the monsters name. The thought even made me shudder, just thinking about it. Percy was silent for a moment, then he said, "It scared me," He paused, "IF you hadn't shot it, I'd be dead."  
"You'll meet far worse, Percy. Far worse, before your done."  
"Done…with what?"  
"Your quest, of course. Will you accept it?" I crossed my fingers, hoping he would say yes. Then I realized Grover was doing the same thing.  
Percy glanced at Grover, then at Grover's hands.  
"Um, sir," Percy said, "You haven't told me what it is yet."  
I took a look at Chiron's face. He grimaced. "Well that's the hard part, the details."

Thunder rumbled across the valley. The storm clouds had reached the edge of the beach. The sea was sending violent waves across the shore. It looked like the sea and the sky were fighting.  
"Poseidon and Zeus." Percy said, "They're fighting over something valuable ... something that was stolen, aren't they?"  
Chiron and Grover exchanged looks.  
Chiron sat forward in his wheel chair. "How did you know that?"  
Percy's face reddened a little. I put my head in my hands, he shouldn't have said anything. "The weather since Christmas has been weird, like the sea and sky are fighting. Then I talked to Annabeth-" I lifted my head off my hands. "- and she'd overheard something about a theft. And… I've also been having these dreams."  
"I knew it," Grover said.  
"Hush, satyr." Chiron ordered.  
"But it is his quest!" His eyes were bright with excitement. "It must be!"  
"Only the Oracle can determine," He stroked his bristly beard. "Nevertheless, Percy, you are correct. Your father and Zeus are having their worst quarrel in centuries. They are fighting over something valuable that was stolen. To be precise: a lightning bolt."  
This is really bad, I thought. Percy laughed nervously. "A _what?_"  
"Do not take this lightly," Chiron warned. "I'm not talking about some tinfoil-covered zigzag you'd see in a second-grade play. I'm talking about a two foot long cylinder of high grade celestial bronze, capped on both ends with gods level explosives."  
"Oh."  
"Zeus's master bolt." Chiron was getting worked up now. "The symbol of his power, from which all the other lightning bolts are patterned. The first weapon made by the Cyclopes for the war against the titans, the bolt that sheered the top off of mount Etna and hurled Kronos from his throne; the master bolt, which packs enough power to make mortal hydrogen bombs look like firecrackers."  
"And it's missing?"  
"Stolen," Chiron said.  
"By who?"  
"By _whom_," Chiron corrected. "By you."  
Percy's mouth dropped open.  
"At least"-Chiron held up a hand- "That's what Zeus thinks. During the winter solstice, at the last council of the gods, Zeus and Poseidon had an argument. The usual nonsense 'Mother Rhea always liked you best,' 'Air disasters are more spectacular than sea disasters,' et cetera. Afterwards, Zeus realized his master bolt was missing, taken from the throne room under his very nose. He immediately blamed Poseidon. Now a god cannot usurp another god's symbol of power directly- that is forbidden by the most ancient of divine laws. But Zeus believes your father convinced a human hero to take it."  
"But I didn't-"  
"Patience and listen, child." Chiron said. "Zeus has good reason to be suspicious. The forges of the Cyclopes are under the ocean, which gives Poseidon influence over the makers of his brother's lightning. Zeus believes Poseidon has taken the master bolt, and is now secretly having the Cyclopes build an arsenal of illegal copies, which might be used to topple Zeus from his throne. The only thing Zeus wasn't sure about was which hero Poseidon used to steal the bolt. Now Poseidon has openly claimed you as his son. You were in New York over the winter holidays. You could easily have snuck into Olympus. Zeus believes his has found his thief." "I've never even been to Olympus! Zeus is crazy!"  
Me, Grover and Chiron all glanced nervously at the sky; the storm was rolling straight over our valley, sealing us in like a coffin.  
"Er, Percy...?" Grover said. "We don't use the _c_-word to describe the Lord of the Sky."  
"Perhaps _paranoid._" Chiron suggested. I zoned out of the conversation for a while, my concentration on the storm that now covered the whole campsite and more.  
Chiron caught my attention a couple of minutes later saying, to Percy, "...You must seek the counsel of the Oracle."  
"Why can't you tell me where the bolt is beforehand?" Percy asked.  
"Because if I did, you would be too afraid to accept the challenge."  
Percy gulped. "Good reason."  
He looked at Grover, he nodded encouragingly. I hoped he would say yes, I crossed my fingers again.  
A couple of minutes later, "All right," Percy said. "It's better than being turned into a dolphin." I let out a breath that I realised I had been holding.  
"Then it is time you consulted the Oracle." Chiron said, "Go upstairs, Percy Jackson, to the attic. When you come back down, assuming you're still sane, we will talk more." A look of worry spread across Percy's face. Then he got up and silently walked up the stairs, to the attic.  
We all sat in silence, while we waited for Percy.

A quarter of an hour later, Percy came back into the porch, he looked pretty shaken up. When Percy sat down, Chiron said, "Well?"  
"She said I would retrieved what was stolen." Yes! But what else did it say, I thought. Grover sat forward, still chewing the remainder of his tin can, "That's great!"  
"What did the Oracle say _exactly?_" Chiron pressed, "This is important."  
"She...she said I would go west and face the god who had turned. I would retrieve what was stolen and see it safely returned." I smiled. But who was this god that turned?  
"I knew it." Grover said.  
Chiron didn't look satisfied. "Anything else?"  
Percy was silent for a while, it seemed he didn't want to tell us. That made me suspicious. Then after a while of silence, "No," He said, "That's about it." I could tell he was lying, so could Chiron by the look on his face.  
"Very well, Percy. But know this: the Oracle's words often have double meanings. Don't dwell on them too much. The truth is not always clear until the events come to pass."  
Percy looked uncomfortable. "Okay," He said anxiously, "So where do I go? Who is this god in the west?"  
"Ah, think, Percy," Chiron said, "If Zeus and Poseidon weaken each other in war, who stands to gain?"  
"Somebody else who wants to take over?" Percy said.  
"Yes, quite. Someone who harbours a grudge, who has been unhappy with his lot since the world was divided aeons ago, whose kingdom would grow powerful with t he deaths of millions. Someone who hates his brothers for forcing him into a oath to have no more children, an oath that both of them have now broken." Hades, I thought.  
"Hades," said Percy after a couple of seconds.  
Chiron nodded, "The Lord of the Dead is the only possibility."  
A scrap of aluminium dribbled out a Grover's mouth, "Whoa, wait. Wh-what?"  
"A fury came after, Percy," Chiron reminded him. I remembered Percy talking about a fury in his sleep. "She watched the young man until she was sure of his identity, then tried to kill him. Furies obey only one lord: Hades."  
"Yes but- but Hades hates_ all_ heroes." Grover protested, "Especially if he has found out Percy is a son a Poseidon..."  
"A hellhound got into the forest." Chiron continued. Yes this all makes sense, I thought deeply. "Those can only be summoned from the fields of punishment, and it had to be summoned from someone within the camp. Hades must have a spy here. He must suspect Poseidon will try to use Percy to clear his name. Hades would very much like to kill this young half-blood before he can take on the quest."  
"Great," Percy muttered, "That's two major gods who want to kill me."  
"But a quest to..." Grover swallowed. "I men, couldn't the master bolt be in some place like Maine? Maine's very nice this time of year."  
"Hades sent a minion to steal the master bolt." Chiron insisted, "He hid it in the underworld, knowing full well that Zeus would blame Poseidon. I don't pretend to understand the Lord of the Dead's motive's perfectly, or why he chose this time to start a war, but one thing is certain. Percy must go to the underworld, find the master bolt, and reveal the truth."  
I was thinking hard on how to get into the underworld, Percy looked angry, he proably was miffed of that Hades had tried to kill him a couple of times; Grover was trembling. He'd started to eat his pinochle like potato crisps.  
Grover really wanted his searchers licence, so he got start his journey to locate Pan, the god of the wild. If he failed this quest he would never get the chance to have the licence.  
"Look, if we know it's Hades," Percy told Chiron, "why can't we just tell the other gods? Zeus or Poseidon could go down to the underworld and bust some heads."  
"Suspecting and knowing are not the same." Chiron said. "Besides, even if the other gods suspect Hades – and I imagine Poseidon does- they couldn't retrieve the bolt themselves. Gods cannot each other's territories except by invitation. This is another ancient rule. Heroes, on the other hand, have certain privileges. They can go anywhere, challenge everyone, as long as they're bold enough and strong enough to do it. No god can be held responsible for a hero's actions. Why do you think the gods always operate through humans?"  
"You're saying I'm being used."  
"I'm saying it's no accident Poseidon has claimed you now. It's a very risky gamble, but he's in a desperate situation. He needs you."  
Percy was silent again, lots of emotions appeared on his face: resentful, grateful, happy, and angry.  
The he looked a Chiron, "You've known I was Poseidon's son all along, haven't you?"  
"I had my suspicions. As I said... I've spoken to the Oracle, too."  
"So let me get this straight," He said. "I'm supposed to go to the underworld and confront the Lord of the Dead."  
"Check," Chiron said.  
"Find the most powerful weapon in the universe."  
"Check."  
"And get it back to Olympus before the summer solstice, in ten days."  
"That's about right."  
Percy looked at Grover, who gulped down the ace of hearts.  
"Did I mention Maine is very nice place this time of year?" he asked weakly.  
"You don't have to go," Percy told him, "I couldn't ask that of you."  
"Oh..." He shifted his hooves, "No...It's just that satyrs and underground places... well..."  
He took a deep breath and then stood, brushing parts of can and card of his T-shirt. "You saved my life, Percy. If...if you're serious about wanting me along, I won't let you down." Awww. Then a sudden thought just popped into my head: will he let me join the quest?  
"All the way G-man," Percy turned to Chiron. "So where do we go? The oracle just said to go west." _Hello?_ What about me? But then I remembered I was invisible and Chiron hadn't told me to take my cap of yet.  
"The entrance to the underworld is always in the west. It moves from age to age, just like Olympus. Right know, of course, it's in America."  
"Where?"  
Isn't it obvious? All of us except Percy looked surprised. "I thought that would be obvious enough. The entrance to the underworld is in Los Angles."  
"Oh," Percy said, "Naturally. So we just get on a plane-"  
"No!" Grover shrieked, "Percy, what are you thinking? Have you ever been on a plane in your life?"  
Percy shook his head. He looked embarrassed.  
"Percy, think," Chiron said, "You are the son of the Sea God. Your father's bitterest rival is with Zeus, Lord of the Sky. Your mother knew better than to trust you in an aeroplane. You would be in Zeus's domain. You would never come down alive again." Smart mother, I thought.  
Overhead, lightning crackled. Thunder boomed.  
"Okay," Percy said. "So, I'll just travel overland."  
"That's right," Chiron said. "Two companions may accompany you. Grover is one. The other has already volunteered, if you will accept her help." My heart rose.  
"Gee," Percy said, feigning surprise. "Who else would be stupid enough to volunteer for a quest like this?" I'm not stupid! I took my invisibility cap off. I shimmered into existence. I stuff the cap in my back pocket.  
"I've been waiting for this quest a long time, Seaweed Brain," I said. "Athena is no fan of Poseidon, but if you're going to save the world, I'm the best person to keep you from messing up."  
"If you do say so yourself," He said. "I suppose you have a plan, Wise Girl?"  
My cheeks flushed. "Do you want my help or not?"  
He thought for a moment. "A trio," He said, "That'll work." I smiled.  
"Excellent." Chiron said. "This afternoon, we can take you as far as the bus terminal in Manhattan. After that, you are on your own."  
Lightning flashed. Rain poured down on the meadows that were never supposed to have violent weather.  
"No time to waste," Chiron said, "I think you should all get packing."


	5. On The Highway To Hell

5

I was finished packing in seconds. I carried my book on famous classical architecture, written in ancient Greek, to read when I got bored and we weren't travelling, my long bronze knife that Luke had given me when he first met me in the street, and last of all, my magic Yankees cap.  
Percy was bringing: one hundred dollars that the camp had given us, twenty golden drachmas, a flask of nectar (Chiron had also given me a flask), and an airtight bag of ambrosia squares- that Chiron had given use in case we needed them.  
Grover wore his fake feet and his trousers to pass as human. He wore his green rasta-style cap, because his horns showed when the rain flattened his hair. His bright orange back-pack was full of scrap metal and apples to snack on. And a set of reed pipes his daddy satyr had carved for him.  
We waved goodbye to the campers, took one last look at all the things at camp, then hiked up the hill towards Thalia's Pine tree.  
Chiron was waiting for us in his wheelchair. Next to him was Argus, who supposedly was covered in eye-balls. "This is Argus," Chiron informed Percy, "He will drive you into the city, and, er, well, keep an eye on things. I heard footsteps behind us. I turned around; Luke was running towards us, carrying a pair of basketball shoes.  
"Hey!" He panted, "Glad I caught you,"  
I blushed.  
"Just wanted to say good luck," Luke told Percy, "And I thought... um, maybe you could use these."  
He handed Percy the sneakers.  
"_Maia!_" Luke said.  
White bird's wings sprouted out of the heels, startling Percy so much he dropped them. The wings flapped for a bit and then folded and disappeared. Luke was so thoughtful, I thought.  
"Awesome!" Grover said.  
Luke smiled. "Those served me well when I was on my quest. Gift from dad. Of course, I don't use them much nowadays..." His expression turned sad. I gave him a sympathetic look. Percy looked too stunned to speak, but blushed as bad as me.  
"Hey, man," Percy finally said, "Thanks."  
"Listen, Percy," Luke looked uncomfortable. "A lot of hopes are riding on you. So just... kill some monsters for me, okay." I will. Not sure about Percy though.  
They shook hands. Luke patted Grover on the head in between his horns. Then gave a goodbye hug to me, I felt like I was going to pass out.  
After Luke was gone, Percy said to me, "You're hyperventilating."  
"Am not."  
"You let him capture the flag instead of you, didn't you?"  
"Oh... why do I want to go anywhere with you, Percy?" He's _so _annoying.  
I stomped to the other side of the hill, where a white SUV waited on the shoulder of the road. Argus followed me, jingling his keys.  
Just as I was about to lean on the car, Grover, screaming "AHHHH!" whizzed past me, missing my face by inches. I could just make out the shoes on Grover's fake feet; they were the same shoes Luke had given Percy. I chuckled to myself. I guess Grover was trying out the shoes. After a while, Grover came back over the hill, he seemed to get the hang of the shoes now because he was very steady.  
When Percy finally came to us, we waved goodbye to Chiron, who was now in his centaur form. He holded his bow high in salute.

* * *

Argus drove us out of the countryside and into western Long Island. This was the first time since I was seven that I was back out in the mortal world. I was going to be able to fight monsters and see if I was any good. After being at camp for five years, the whole world looked like a fantasy, I found myself staring at every fatty food shop, all we had a camp was healthy stuff. I stared at all the shops, billboards and cars- everything that passed.  
"So far so good," Percy told me. "Ten miles and not a single monster."  
I gave him an irritated look, "It's bad luck to talk that way, seaweed brain." I liked my new nickname for him: seaweed brain. I thought about kelp-headed freak but it was too long.  
"Remind me again – why do you hate me so much?"  
"I don't hate you."  
"Could've fooled me."  
I folded my Yankees cap. "Look... we're just not supposed to get along, okay? Are parents are rivals."  
"Why?"  
I sighed, he had so much to learn. "How many reasons do you want? One time my mom caught Poseidon with his girlfriend in Athena's temple, which is _hugely _disrespectful. Another time, Athens and Poseidon competed to be the patron god for the city of Athens. Your dad created some stupid saltwater spring for his gift. My mom created the olive tree. The people saw that her gift was better, so they named the city after her."  
"They must really like olives."  
"Oh, forget it."  
"Now, if she'd made pizza- _that_ I could understand."  
"I said, forget it." For goodness sake!  
In the front seat, Argus smiled. He didn't say anything but I spotted a eye at the back of his neck wink at Percy, that made me more annoyed so I just ignored it.  
Traffic slowed down in Queens. It was sunset and raining by the time we got into Manhattan.  
Argus dropped us off at the Greyhound Station on the Upper East Side. We were near a block of apartments, on a mail box, I caught a glimpse of a picture of Percy it said: HAVE YOU SEEN THIS BOY? Percy ripped the photo down before I could read anymore.  
Argus unloaded our bags, made sure we got our bus tickets, then drove away, the eye on the back of his hand opening to watch us as he pulled out of the parking lot.  
Grover shouldered his back pack. He looked in the direction Percy was looking and then said, "Do you want to know why she married him, Percy?" What was he on about?  
Percy stared at Grover, "Were you reading my mind or something?"  
"Just your emotions." He shrugged. "Guess I forgot to tell you satyrs can do that. You were thinking about your mom and your step-dad, right?" Okay.  
Percy nodded.  
"Your mom married Gabe for _you_," Grover said, "You call him 'smelly', but you've got no idea. This guy has this aura...Yuck. I can smell him from here. I can smell traces of him on you, and you haven't been near him for a fortnight."  
"Thanks," Percy said, "Where's the nearest shower?"  
"You should be grateful, Percy. Your step-father smells so repulsively human he could mask the presence of any demigod." This guy must_ really_ smell."As soon as I took a whiff inside him Camaro, I knew: Gabe has been covering your sent for years. If you hadn't lived with him every summer, you probably would have been found by monsters a long time ago. Your mom stayed with him to protect you. She was a smart lady. She must've loved you a lot to put up with that guy- if that makes you feel any better."  
Percy's face didn't show any expression, he was trying hard not to let his emotions show. I smiled at Percy sympathetically, but I don't think he noticed.

The rain was still pouring down.  
WE got restless waiting for the bus to arrive so we started playing a game: Hacky Sack, with one of Grover's apples. I was really good at it. I could bounce it off my knee, my elbow, my shoulder, whatever. Percy wasn't too bad himself to say it was the first time he had played it.  
The game ended when Percy tossed the apple towards Grover and it got too close to his mouth. In one mega goaty bite, our Hacky Sack disappeared- every last bit of it.  
Grover blushed. He tried to apologize but me and Percy were to busy in having hysterics.  
Finally, the bus came. As we stood up in line to board, Grover started sniffing around. Oh no... this meant that a monster was nearby. I tried my best to keep calm.  
"What is it?" Percy asked Grover.  
"I don't know," Grover said tensely, "Maybe it was nothing."  
But I could tell it was something, Grover was lying, he was trying to keep us calm. We got our tickets, and I lead Grover and Percy to the back of the bus. We stowed our backpacks. I kept on slapping my cap nervously against my thigh.  
As the last passengers got on, I noticed three old ladies wearing exactly the same thing, I instantly recognised them as... the three Furies, all of them in one place at one time!  
I clamped my hand on Percy's knee. "Percy." I whispered.  
He looked in the direction I was looking, his eyes widened. Then he scrunched down in his seat. He had clear he had had a bad experience with the first Fury that boarded the bus. I heard him mumble "Mrs Dodds."  
They sat in the front row, behind the driver. The two on the aisle crossed their legs making an X. I expect that is what people do, it's casual enough, but it sent a clear message: no body leaves.  
I gulped. The bus pulled out of the station, and we headed through the thick streets of Manhattan. "She didn't stay dead long," Percy said, his voice quivering a tiny bit, "I thought you said they could be dispelled for a lifetime."  
"I said if you're _lucky_," I said, "You obviously aren't."  
"All three of them," Grover whimpered, he looked like he was going to be sick, "_Di immortals!"_  
"It's okay," I said, thinking very hard. We'll just have to escape; they're too dangerous to fight. "The Furies. The three most worst monsters from the underworld. No problem. No problem. We'll just slip out the windows."  
"They don't open," Grover moaned.  
"A back exit?" I suggested.  
There wasn't one. What if there was a fire at the front of the bus and there wasn't and exit at the back? Stupid mortals.  
We were on Ninth Avenue, heading for Lincoln Tunnel.  
"They won't attack us with witnesses around," Percy said, "Will they?"  
"Mortals don't have good eyes." I reminded him. "Their brains can only process what they see through the Mist."  
"They'll see three old ladies killing us, won't they?"  
Hmm...depends some mortals can see through the mist better than others..."Hard to say. But we can't count on mortals for help. Maybe an emergency exit in the roof..." Nope, there wasn't one.  
We hit the Lincoln Tunnel, and the bus went dark except for the running lights down the aisle. It was very quiet, except for the rain.  
A Fury, that Percy had called Mrs Dodds, got up. In a toneless voice, as if she had rehearsed it, she said, "I need to use the restroom."  
"So do I," Said the second Fury.  
"So do I," Said the third Fury. Must think of a plan...Ah ha; Percy will wear my invisibility cap and get away, he's the one they want. And me and Grover will distract the Furies and kill them when we get the chance, if we survive.  
They all started coming down the aisle.  
"I've got it." I said, "Percy, take my hat."  
"What?"  
"You're the one they want. Turn invisible and go up the aisle. Let them pass you. Maybe you can get to the front and get away." If one of us could survive it had to be Percy because this was_ his_ quest.  
"But you guys-" Always thinking about everybody else.  
"There's an outside chance they might not notice us," I said. "You're a son of one of the Big Three. Your smell might be overpowering."  
"I can't just leave you."  
"Don't worry about us," Grover said, "Go!"  
Percy's hands were trembling when I gave him my cap. As soon as he had put it on, He disappeared completely. One of the Furies stopped at the tenth row and sniffed the air. I hope she's not sniffed out Percy. She stopped sniffing and looked straight at the floor where I guess Percy was hiding.  
Thank goodness, she didn't see anything. She and her sisters kept going.  
The Furies were approaching us quickly.  
Suddenly, when they were a couple of metres away, they changed their form; revealing their true identity. Their faces were the same, but their bodies had shrivelled into leathery brown hag bodies with bat's wings and hands and feet like gargoyle claws. Their handbags dissolved into fiery whips. They all wailed a horrifying in yell, as their bodies changed.  
The Furies surrounded us; I hoped Percy was thinking of a way out.  
Lashing their whips, the Furies hissed, "Where is it? Where?"  
The people around us were cowering, screaming in their seats. They saw _something_ bad, all right.  
"He's not here!" I yelled. "He's gone!"  
The Furies raised their whips.  
I unsheathed my knife. Grover grabbed a can. I was scared. I took a few deep breaths before the bus was unexpectedly jerked to the left; everyone was thrown to the right. _Percy!_ _I nearly cracked my head open! Good plan, though. _I moaned, I could feel a new lump had on my head. I turned my concentration back on the Furies; they had all slammed into the windows. I steadied myself, and turned to look for Grover. He was gnawing the seat in front of him, his eyes transfixed on the steering wheel.  
Every time the wheel was turned by the driver, it was suddenly turned the other way. Percy was wrestling for the wheel.  
The bus kept on swerving left to right, I felt like I was going to be sick.  
After a few minutes, of monsters and people being thrown about on the bus, the bus did a full turn on the tarmac, wheels screeching, and then it suddenly stopped. They back of the bus crashed into the trees. The emergency lights turned on. All the passengers, except the Furies, Grover and me and the invisible Percy, ran out of the bus, screaming. I got up, off the floor, and turned round to face the Furies -who had regained their balance.  
"Πίσω ανοικτά!" I shouted at the Furies, (in English it means 'back off'.) "φύγω, φεύγω!" (That means 'go away') I raised my knife in case I needed to defend myself; this is what we train for a camp.  
"Hey!" A voice shouted behind me, I turned. It was Percy; he had taken the cap off. The Furies turned to bare their teeth at Percy. The main Fury started o advance up the aisle, towards Percy. The other two Furies climbed down from the seats they were standing on and crawled towards Percy. I crept behind the Furies, to Grover. We silently followed the Furies – who were slowly advancing in on Percy- and waited for an opening to attack.  
"Perseus Jackson," The middle Fury said, in an accent that was from somewhere south. "You have offended the gods. You shall die."  
"I liked you better as teacher." Percy said.  
She growled.  
Grover and I moved cautiously closer. Percy suddenly pulled out a pen from his pocket. What was he going to do- scribble on their faces? But when Percy uncapped it, it turned into a celestial bronze sword. Chiron had used it in his fencing lesson.  
The Furies hesitated.  
"Submit now," She hissed, "And you will not suffer eternal torment."  
"Nice try," Percy told her.  
He had just crossed her line of anger; I could see it before it happened. "Percy, look out!" I cried.  
The Fury lashed her whip around Percy's sword hand while the other two Furies lunged at him.  
IT all happened too quickly. Percy jammed his sword hilt in the Fury to the left; I grabbed the Fury- also known as 'Mrs Dodds'- in a wrestler hold and yanked her backwards while Grover ripped the whip out of her hands.  
"Ow!" He yelled, "Ow! Hot! Hot!"  
I hung onto the Fury as tight as I could. The Fury kicked, clawed, hissed a bit, but I still managed to hold on. It was harder than try in to hold onto a car that was driving the fastest it could go. I got a few bruises and cuts when I got slammed against the window. But at least I had this one distracted while Grover tied her legs up in her own whip. When her legs were tightly tied up, I jumped of her back, and then Grover and I shoved her to the back of the aisle. The Fury tried to get up but there was no room for her wings to spread so she kept on falling down.  
"Zeus will destroy you!" She promised, "Hades will have your soul!"  
"_Braccas meas vescimini!" _ Percy yelled. Huh? Did that mean something like 'eat my pants'?  
Thunder shook the bus. Uh oh….lightning is going to come any second now.  
"Get out!" I yelled at Percy. "Now!" As soon as I said it, Percy leapt out of the bus, closely followed by Grover and me.  
Everyone was either wandering around in a daze, arguing with the driver, or running around in circles yelling, "We're going to die!" _The thoughts that get into these mortals brains!_ A camera clicked nearby, I turned to see a tourist in a Hawaiian t-shirt taking a photo of Percy.  
"Our bags!" Grover realized, "We left our -"  
BOOOOOM!  
The windows of the bus exploded as the passengers ran for cover. Lightning shredded a huge crater in he roof, but an angry voice from inside the bus shouted "έρχονται να μου! Πιο! έρχονται να μου! Ι κλήση τριών!" (that means 'come to me! More monsters! Come to me! I summon thee!'.)  
"Run!" I said. "She's calling for reinforcements! We have to get out of here!"  
We plunged into the woods as the rain poured down, the bus in flames behind us and nothing but darkness ahead. 


	6. Just Take A Peek

**Sorry for the delay. I had a school trip to London for three days. Thank you for the reviews! **

We walked and walked and walked. The New Jersey river bank seemed like it would go on forever and ever. The glow of New York City made the night sky yellow; the smell of the Hudson River reeking in our noses.  
Grover was shivering and braying, his big goaty eyes turned slit-pupilled and full of terror. "Three Kindly Ones. All three at once."  
Percy looked pretty shocked too. I had been in this situation before with Thalia and Luke. I just tried to keep everyone's spirits up, like Thalia did. "Come on! The further away we get, the better."  
"All our money was back there," Percy reminded me, "Our food and clothes. Everything."  
"Well maybe if you hadn't decided to jump in the fight-"  
"What did you want me to do? Let you get killed?"  
"You didn't need to protect me, Percy. I would've been fine." I did feel grateful for him helping, but I wasn't going to say that! I am a daughter of Athena; I should fight my own fights.  
"Sliced like sandwich bread," Grover put in, "but fine."  
"Shut up goat boy," I said.  
Grover brayed mournfully, "Tin cans… a perfectly good bag of tin cans."  
We sloshed across mushy ground, through nasty twisted trees that smelled like sour laundry. I was thinking whether I should tell Percy that I did really appreciate him helping us fight off the furies. I mean, he did kill two of them.  
After a few minutes of deciding, I walked up to Percy. "Look, I…" My voice faltered. "I appreciate your coming back for us, okay? That was really brave."  
"We're a team right?"  
Right. But what would happen if he died? I would never be able to see the world again, since I would have to go back to camp. "It's just that if you died…aside from the fact that it would really suck for you, it would mean this quest was over. This maybe my only chance to see the real world." I hoped he understood what I meant. I wasn't sure about telling him the last part, but I felt a need to.  
The thunderstorm finally stopped. The city glow stopped behind us, leaving us in almost utter darkness. I couldn't see anything of Percy except the light that shone of his watch.  
"You haven't left Camp Half- Blood since you were seven?" Percy asked me.  
No…only on short field trips. My dad-"  
"The history professor." Did he really remember that?  
"Yeah. It didn't work out for me living at home. I mean, Camp Half- Blood _is_ my home." I was rushing my words. I didn't like talking about this particular subject. "At camp you train and train. And that's all cool and everything, but the real world is where the monsters are. That's her you learn whether you're any good or not."  
He paused for a second, thinking.  
"You were pretty good with that knife." He said.  
"You think so?" That's such a kind thing to say.  
"Anybody who can piggyback-ride a Fury is okay by me." I smiled. I knew Percy couldn't see me but I could feel his eyes on me.  
"You know," I said, "maybe I should tell you… Something funny back on the bus…"  
Whatever I was going to say was interrupted by a shrill _toot-toot-toot, _like the sound off an owl being tortured.  
"Hey! My reed pipes still work!" Grover cried. "If I could just remember a 'find path' song, we could get out of these woods!"  
He puffed out a few notes.  
Instead of finding a path, Percy immediately slammed into a tree. It was kind of funny until, I tripped up. Luckily, no one noticed. I didn't want to look stupid so I quickly jumped up.  
After a few minutes of Percy and me tripping and cursing, I started to see a light ahead. I could smell greasy, fatty food. I hadn't had any fatty food stuff since I was last out of camp, which was when I was seven. At camp all we had to eat was healthy food like grapes, fresh bread and pasta, anything like that.  
We kept on walking until Percy spotted a deserted two-lane road through trees. On the other side was a closed down gas station, a tattered billboard for a 1990s movie and one open business, which was the source of a neon light and the good smell.  
They could have designed the place better! They could have demolished the billboard and gas station and replaced it with a beautiful garden or a well designed building.  
The roadside construction was a low but long warehouse; it was surrounded by ingeniously carved stone statues, the details were very good.  
But what my mind was on now, was the smell of cheeseburgers and chips coming from inside the building.  
I looked at the neon sign, but I couldn't make out what the building was called because my dyslexia was playing up.  
To me it looked like: TAYNU SME DGRENA OGEMN PMEIORMU.  
"What the heck does that say?" Percy asked.  
"I don't know." I said.  
Grover translated: "Aunty Em's Garden Gnome Emporium."  
There was two cement garden gnomes, ugly bearded runts, smiling and waving, as if they were about to have their picture taken.  
Percy crossed the street; I was just about to follow him when Grover warned, "Hey..."  
"The light are on inside," I said, "Maybe it's open." What was the problem? Last time Grover sensed something it lead us to a Cyclopes lair.  
"Snack bar," Percy said wistfully.  
"Snack bar," I agreed.  
"Are you to crazy?" Grover said. "This place is weird."  
We ignored him.  
The front garden was a museum of statues: cement animals, cement children, even a cement satyr playing the pipes, which gave Grover the creeps.  
"Bla-ha-ha!" Grover bleated, "Looks like my uncle Ferdinand!"  
We stopped at the warehouse door.  
"Don't knock." He pleaded. "I smell monsters."  
"Your nose is clogged up from the Furies," I told him, "All I smell is burgers. Aren't you hungry?"  
"Meat!" he said scornfully, "I'm a vegetarian."  
"You eat cheese enchiladas and aluminium cans." Percy reminded him.  
"Those are vegetables. Come on. Let's leave. These statues are ... looking at me." I rolled my eyes.  
Then the door creaked open, and standing in front of us was a tall Middle Eastern – she looked like a Middle Eastern woman anyway, because she wore a long black gown that covered everything except her hands, and her head was completely veiled. I noticed that her eyes glinted behind her veil- that was not normal; maybe it was the neon sign shining off of her. Her hands were well manicured and elegant, but they looked old. I thought she must be an old woman who used to be pretty.  
Her accent sounded vaguely Middle Eastern, too. She said, "Children, it is too late to be out all alone. Where are your parents?"  
"They're ... um ... "I started to say, I normally would be able to think of an excuse but I just couldn't because I was so hungry.  
"We're orphans." Percy said. _What?_  
"Orphans?" The woman said. The words sounded alien in her mouth. "But, my dears! Surely not!"  
"We got separated from our caravan." Percy made up. This was quick thinking, I thought. "Our circus caravan. The ringmaster told us to meet at the gas station if we got lost, but he may have forgotten, or maybe he meant a different gas station. Anyway, we're lost. Is that food I smell?" Quick thinking but, circus caravan? Where did that idea come from?  
"Oh, my dears." The woman said. "You must come in, poor children. I am Aunty Em. Go straight through to the back off the warehouse, please. There is a dining area."  
We thanked her and went inside.  
I muttered to Percy, "Circus caravan?"  
"Always have a strategy, right?"  
"Your head is full of kelp." He was making fun of me always having a plan, and now not having a plan.  
The warehouse was filled with more statues- people standing in a variety of poses, wearing different clothes.  
The smell was overwhelming, I quickly looked for the dining area, closely followed by Percy; Grover stayed a couple of inches away, like he smelled a disgusting smell, like a public toilet.  
I finally found the dining area. It had a fast-food counter with a grill, a soda fountain, a pretzel heater and a nacho cheese dispenser. Everything You would have for a perfect meal, plus a few steel picnic tables out front.  
"Please, sit down." Aunty Em said.  
"Awesome," Percy took the words right out my mouth.  
"Um," Grover said reluctantly, "we don't have any money, ma'am."  
Before I could swat him on the head, Aunty Em said, "No, no, children. No money. This is a special case, yes? It is my treat, for such nice orphans."  
"Thank you ma'am." I said, being polite.  
I noticed Aunty Em stiffen quickly, but then, just as quick, relaxed.  
"Quite alright, Annabeth," she said. "You have such beautiful grey eyes, child." How does she know my name? Did I introduce myself? I'm sure I didn't.  
She disappeared behind the counter and started cooking. Soon after, she'd brought us plastic trays heaped with double cheeseburgers, vanilla shakes and XXL servings of French fries.  
I was a quarter way through my milk-shake when I remembered to take a breath.  
Percy scoffed his double cheeseburger.  
Grover picked at his fries, and eyes the tray's waxed paper liner as if he might go for that, but he still looked too nervous to eat.  
Get over it and eat, I thought. I had just started on my pot of chips.  
"What's that hissing noise?"  
I listened, but didn't hear anything. I shook my head, he's paranoid.  
"Hissing?" Aunty Em said. "Perhaps you hear the deep-fryer oil. You have keen ears, Grover." How did she know Grover's name, too? We didn't say Grover's name either. I started to get suspicious.  
"I take vitamins. For my ears."  
"That's admirable," She said. "But please, relax."  
Aunty Em ate nothing. She hadn't taken her head dress off yet, even when she was cooking. Now she just sat forward and watched us eat. It was a little weird.  
I was still suspicious that she wasn't what we thought she was. So I tried to remember all the Greek mythical creatures.  
Percy started a conversation with Aunty Em. I was thinking really hard until Aunty Em said something. "Oh, yes. Once upon a time, I had two sisters to help me in the business, but they have passed on, and Aunty Em is alone. I have only my statues. This is why I make them, you see. They are my company."  
I stopped eating and said, "Two sisters?"  
"It's a terrible story." Aunty Em said. "Not one for children, really. You see, Annabeth, a bad woman was jealous of me, long ago, when I was young. I had a... boyfriend, you know, and this bad woman was determined to break us apart. She caused a terrible accident. My sisters stayed by me. They shared they're bad fortune as long as they could, but eventually they passed on. They faded away. I alone have survived, but at a price. Such a price."  
That's it! She's a gorgon; she's Medusa, aunty _em. _Aunty M. Athena was angry because she was kissing Poseidon, her 'boyfriend', in Athena's temple. Athena was really angry so she turned Medusa's and her sister's 'beautiful' hair to snakes, that's what Grover, could hear! They stayed with Medusa until, they had died, (disintegrated e.g. faded). It all fits! I had to warn Percy.  
"Percy?" I was shaking him to get his attention. "Maybe we should go. I mean, the ringmaster will be waiting." We needed to go, now!  
"Such beautiful grey eyes," Aunty Em told me again. "My, yes, it has been a long time since I've seen grey eyes like those."  
She extended her arm towards me, I stood up abruptly.  
"Yes!" Grover swallowed his wax paper and stood up. "The ring master is waiting! Right!"  
Percy didn't move.  
"Please, dears," Aunty Em pleaded, "I so rarely get to be with children. Before you go, won't you at least sit for a pose?"  
"A pose?" I asked warily.  
"A photograph. I will use it to model a new statue set. Children are so popular, you see. Everyone loves children." No way! I am _not_ going to be turned into a statue!  
I shifted my weight from foot to foot. "I don't think we can, ma'am. Come on, Percy-"  
"Sure we can," Percy said. He gave me an irritated look. What? Do you want to be turned into a statue? "It's just a photo, Annabeth. What's the harm?" How thick could you get?  
"Yes, Annabeth," Aunty Em purred, "No harm." I didn't like it but I agreed to be lead to the front door, into the garden of statues.  
Medusa directed us to a park bench next to the stone satyr. "Now," She said. "I'll just position you correctly. The young girl in the middle, I think, and the two young gentlemen at either side."  
"Not much light for a photo," Percy observed.  
"Oh, enough," Medusa said, "Enough for us to see each other, yes?"  
"Where's your camera?" Grover asked.  
Medusa stepped back, as if to admire the shot. "Now, the face is the most difficult. Can you smile for me please, everyone? A large smile."  
Grover glanced at the cement satyr next to him and mumbled, "That sure does look like uncle Ferdinand."  
"Grover," Medusa chastised. "Look this way, dear." We needed to move _now!_  
"Percy-"I tried to warn him.  
"I will just be a moment." Medusa said. "You know, I can't see very well in this cursed veil..."  
"Percy, something's wrong." I insisted.  
"Wrong?" Medusa said, reaching up to undo the wrap around her head. "Not at all, dear. I have such noble company tonight. What could be wrong?"  
"That _is _Uncle Ferdinand!" Grover gasped.  
"Look away from her!" I shouted, while whipping my Yankees cap on to my head; I vanished. I pushed Grover and Percy both off the bench so they were looking at the floor instead of Medusa.  
I scrambled off to the left, while Grover scrambled of to the right. Percy didn't move; he looked dazed. I hid behind a statue of a couple holding hands, even though I was invisible, and watched as Percy's eyes rose to Medusa's, hands, which were now gnarled and warty, with sharp bronze talons for fingernails. He was about to looked higher so, in fear, I screamed, "No! Don't!"  
I stared at Medusa, wondering what she would do next, the snakes that came out of her head hissed. Would she force his eyes to look at her? I had to think of a plan to get out of here _with_ Percy and Grover.  
"Run!" Grover bleated, he ran/trotted across the gravel, yelling, "_Maia_!" to kick-start his flying sneakers.  
Percy wouldn't, _couldn't_, move, it looked like Medusa had put some sort of trance on him. My short nails were digging into the base of my palm. Think, I told myself, how did Medusa die in the myth? A demigod called Perseus, had killed her in her sleep. Well she was pretty much awake now, that wasn't going to help.  
"Such a pity to destroy such a young face." Medusa said soothingly. "Stay with me, Percy. All you have to do is look up." I prayed to all the gods and goddesses that I could think of, that Percy wouldn't look up.  
I saw Percy inch his head to the side, so he could see an orange sphere that reflected his and Medusa's image.  
His eyes widened when he saw Medusa's reflection in the sphere. Finally, I thought. Does he now know why we were trying to get out of this cursed place?  
"The Grey Eyed-One did this to me, Percy." Medusa said. You deserved it, I thought. "Annabeth's mother, the cursed Athena, from a beautiful woman into this."  
"Don't listen to her!" I shouted. "Run, Percy!" Why wasn't he running?  
"Silence!" Medusa snarled. Then her voice turned back into a comforting purr. "You see why I must destroy the girl, Percy. She is my enemy's daughter. But you, dear Percy, need not suffer."  
Percy murmured something that looked like, "No," I saw Percy's legs twitch. Come on! Move!  
"Do you really want to help the gods?" Medusa asked. "Do you understand what awaits you on this foolish quest, Percy? What will happen if you reach the underworld? Do not be a pawn of the Olympians, my dear. You would be better off as a statue. Less pain. Less pain."  
Then I remembered Grover; where the heck was he? I looked around and spotted Grover yanking a branch off a tree, the size of a cricket bat. That was not like Grover to be pulling apart nature. Then he flew a few feet of the ground, a couple of centimetres above Medusa's head.  
"Percy!" He said. Grover turned into a dive and yelled at Percy, "Duck!"  
With his eyes closed tight, Grover dived at Medusa, his head twitched from side to side. He was using his ears and nose to find the way to Medusa.  
Percy dove to the side at once.  
_Thwak! _  
Grover had hit Medusa right in the eyes; she roared with rage.  
"You miserable satyr," She snarled. "I'll add you to my collection!"  
"That was for Uncle Ferdinand!" Grover yelled back.  
Percy scrambled away, near to where I was hiding.  
_Ker-whack!  
_Grover hit Medusa again, on the head. I crouched next to Percy, "Percy!"  
Percy jumped like he had being hit by lightning; he nearly knocked over a statue of a garden gnome.  
"Jeez! Don't do that!"  
I took of my cap and became visible. "You have to cut her head off."  
"What? Are you crazy? Let's get out of here!"  
"Medusa is a menace. She's evil. I'd kill her myself, but..." I swallowed. She'd cut me to pieces. "But you've got the better weapon. Beside, I'd never get close to her. She'd slice me to bits because of my mother. You- you've got a chance."  
"What? I can't-"  
"Look, do you want her to be turning more innocent people into statues?"  
I pointed to the statues of the adult couple that I was hiding behind, before.  
I needed to see Medusa to know what she was doing. I grabbed a green grazer ball from a pedestal. "A polished shield would be better." I studied Medusa's reflection in the ball. "The convexity will cause some distortion. The reflection's size should be off by a factor of-"  
"Would you speak English?"  
"I _am_!" I tossed him the ball,"Just look at her in the glass. _Never_ look at her directly."  
"Hey, guys!" Grover yelled somewhere above us. "I think she's unconscious!"  
"_Roooaaarrr!"_  
"Maybe not," Grover corrected. He gave Medusa another whack with the tree branch.  
"Hurry," I told Percy, "Grover's got a great nose, but he'll eventually crash."  
He took out his ballpoint pen and uncapped it; it turned into a metre long sword of celestial bronze.  
Percy crept towards the sound of Medusa's hissing and spitting hair.  
I looked up to the sky so my eyes were not looking anywhere near Medusa.  
_Bmmphh!_  
"Ummphh!" I heard Grover moan. Great, he's crashed into a statue.  
"Hey!" Percy's voice shouted from somewhere in front of me.  
A was very quiet except for Grover's moaning and Medusa's Hair spitting. It took all my strength of mind not too look at Medusa or Percy.  
"You wouldn't harm an old woman, Percy." Medusa crooned. "I know you wouldn't,"  
"Percy, don't listen to her!" Grover's voice moaned from somewhere to my right. I silently agreed with Grover.  
"Too late!" Medusa crackled.  
I heard a sickening, _shlock!, _and a hissing sound_, _the sound of a monster disintegrating_.  
_Medusa was dead.  
_Thud!  
_Medusa's head fell to the ground.  
"Oh, yuck." Grover said. "Mega-yuck."  
No-one else was going to pick up the head so I, still looking at the sky, stooped to pick up Medusa's fallen veil, and walked over to where the dying snakes on Medusa's head where still hissing. "Don't move," I said.  
Very, very carefully, without looking down, I knelt and the monster's head in black cloth, the picked it up. I was dripping green juice.  
"Are you okay?" I asked Percy, my voice trembling slightly.  
"Yeah," Although he looked like he was about to throw up. "Why didn't... why didn't the head evaporate?"  
"Once you server it, it becomes a spoil of war," I said. "Same as your Minotaur horn. But don't unwrap the head. It can still petrify you."  
Grover moaned as he climbed down from a statue which I realized was a grizzly bear. He gad a big welt (bump) on his forehead. His green rasta cap hung from his right hand side horn, his fake feet lay on the floor a couple of metres away. The magic flying shoes flew aimlessly around Grover's head.  
"The Red Baron," Percy said. He always has something nice to say up his sleeve, even if it's not true. "Good job, man."  
Grover managed a bashful grin. "That really was_ not_ fun, though. Well the hitting-her-with-a-stick part, that was fun. But crashing into a concrete bear, _not_ fun."  
He snatched the shoes out of the air. Percy recapped his sword. Together, the three of us stumbled back to the warehouse.  
We found some old grocery bags behind the snack counter and double-wrapped the gorgon's head. We plopped it on the table where we had eaten earlier, and sat around it, too exhausted to speak.  
After a few worn out minutes Percy said, "So we have Athena to thank for this monster?"  
I flashed him an irritated look. "Your dad, actually. Don't you remember? Medusa was Poseidon's girlfriend. They decided to meet in my mother's temple. That's why Athena turned her into a monster. Medusa and her two sisters, who helped her get into the temple, they became the three gorgons. That's why Medusa wanted to slice me up, but she wanted to preserve you as a nice statue. She's still sweet on your dad. You probably reminded her of him."  
Percy face looked like it was burning. "So your saying this is _my_ fault we met Medusa?" Well it was, I thought.  
I straightened. In a bad imitation of his voice, I said: "It's just a photo, Annabeth. What's the harm?"  
"Forget it," Percy said, "You're impossible."  
"You're insufferable."  
"You're-"  
"Hey!" Grover interrupted. "You two are giving me a migraine, and satyrs don't even _get_ migraine's. What are we going to do with the head?"  
I thought about the last question for a while, Would we just leave it here?  
A few minutes later, Percy got up."I'll be back."  
"Percy," I called after him, "What are you-"  
He had disappeared out the room.  
What the heck is he doing, wandering about Medusa's lair?  
"What do you think he's doing?" Grover asked.  
"No idea," I said, "Should we go look for him?"  
"He'll come back," Grover shook his head.  
"There's something strange going on in this quest." I realized, "I mean, _two_ monster attacks in a day? All three Kindly Ones, and the worst gorgon. In _one day_."  
"I know, very strange." Grover agreed; he started to nibble nervously on the grease paper under the chips. "It's like someone is sending us to every bad monster they can think off."  
"Yeah...We _need_ to think of a plan desperately." I said. "The Furies weren't as destructive as they are in the stories."  
"Bla-ha-ha. They were horrible enough!" Grover bleated, "Why didn't Mrs Dodds kill Percy when she met him? Not that I wanted her to, but they don't usually wait. They kill as soon as the sense you."  
That left us in deep thought.  
After a while I decided to go look for Percy when he walked right through the door carrying, twenty dollars, a few drachmas and some packing slips for Hermes Overnight Express, each with a leather pouch attached for coins and a box large enough to fit a football in.  
He sat down at the picnic table, placed Medusa's head in the box, and filled out a delivery slip:

**The Gods  
Mount Olympus  
600****th**** floor,  
Empire State Building,  
New York, NY**

With best wishes,  
PERCY JACKSON

"They're not going to like that," Grover warned. "They'll think you're impertinent."  
Everyone wants to impress they're parents. I don't blame him for sending the head to his father and the other Gods.  
He poured some golden drachmas into the pouch. As soon as he closed it, there was a sound like a cash register. The package floated off the table and disappeared with a _pop! _  
"I am impertinent." Percy said.  
He looked at me, daring me to criticize. But I didn't think he needed scolding. He always annoyed the Gods anyway. "Come on," I muttered, "We need a plan."

****


	7. A Vision From the Past

7

We were somewhat depressed that night.  
We camped in the outskirts of the woods, a hundred metres away from the main road. The clearing had clearly been used for kids partying because there were soda cans and empty fast-food wrappers littering the floor.  
We'd taken some food and blankets from Aunty Em's, but we didn't have the guts to light a fire to dry our clothes because monsters would be able to see the light from a distance a find us. The Furies and Medusa had proved enough challenge and fighting for one day. We didn't want to attract anything else.  
We decided to sleep in shifts. Percy volunteered to take first watch. I was too tired to argue. A grabbed a blanket from the pile and curled up on it. I was asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.

In my dream, I stood in my bedroom. I glanced in the mirror that hung above my dresser; I was seven again, I was in my Flannel pyjamas. My dream self slung a rucksack bag over my dream self's back. **(A/N I will stop saying dream self now and just say I) **I walked out of my room closing the door silently.  
I checked my watch. 11:46. I carefully crept down the hallway, making sure I didn't step on any of the creaky boards. I checked to door of my Dad and my step-mom's bedroom (they were deep into their sleep by now) before quickly, but cautiously tiptoeing out of the front door, garage key safely tucked into my pyjama pocket.  
"I'm going. Hope you enjoy you're lives without the _freak_." I mumbled under my breath. I ran out the door. Before I set of on my journey to…nowhere, I unlocked the garage and grabbed the hammer that was left on the shelf.  
_For Protection, _I thought.  
I realized this was the day I ran away, because my dream self suddenly ran into a dark alley and didn't stop running till she was out of breath. I sat down to take a rest near a chippy. Soon after, I got up and started running again.  
I stopped to sit on a low wall of somebody's garden. By this time, I was gasping for air. Luckily, it was dark, so no-one saw me.  
When I was just about to set off on my journey again, I heard a sound like metal against tarmac. I walked over to the lamppost so I could see all around me and grabbed the hammer that I had stored in my backpack. I waited for the noise to come closer. I guessed it would be a creature or an electric robot of some kind.  
When the creature that was making the noise came into view, I my hammer at it. The metal on the hammer made a: _CLANG!_ against the thing and the thing suddenly stopped moving and the buzzing that I realized it was making quietened until it came to a stop.  
I slowly walked forward to inspect the object. I knelt next to it, I didn't dare touch it. I realized it was a metal scorpion? The scorpion's body looked like it was made of metal, but it had one bright blue glossy eye right at the front of its head. As I inspected it more closely, I noticed a dark purple liquid was oozing out of its tail. I realized that the liquid was poison. My dad had shown me a similar looking potion before.  
Scared that the scorpion could have killed me, I ran and ran until I turned into a dead end. Suddenly, I was wrapped in darkness, I couldn't breathe properly. I screamed.

I woke with a start.  
I sat up, breathing hard, sweat beaded my forehead. I looked around. Grover was snoring on a tree branch, and Percy was tossing and turning in his sleeping bag.  
I grabbed the food bag that Percy had filed with food from Aunty Em's and took three bags of nacho-flavoured corn chips. As I was opening one of the bags, Grover awoke.  
"Blaaaa," Grover yawned. "Morning,"  
"Morning, Grover," I said.  
Grover's nose suddenly twitched. "Do you mind if I go exploring?" He asked.  
"Did you just smell a monster?"  
"No," Grover replied, "I smelt a friend."  
"Okay," I said, too tired to argue.  
Grover jumped down from the branch and walked off while stuffing a shoe on each hoof.  
I stuffed a couple of chips into my mouth and chewed for a while, thinking about what else we would come across on this quest.  
Grover came back pretty soon from the direction of the woods. He was holding something that looked like a very fluffy bag.  
When he came closer, I realized it was a pink poodle. Grover sat down next to me on a blanket.  
"I found her in the woods." Grover explained, "Her names Gladiola."  
He mouthed 'say hello' at me.  
"Hello, Gladiola." I said, confused that I was talking to a poodle.  
It barked at me softly.  
"Gladiola has run away, the owners give $200 to whoever finds him." Grover said. "She wants to help me. She says the train that travels west leaves at noon." He pointed downhill.  
"If we give him back, we'll be able to buy tickets into the west." I figured. "Perfect." I smiled at my brilliant plan.  
I turned and shook Percy until he opened his eyes.  
"Well," I said, "the zombie lives."  
"How long was I asleep?" He asked, shaking a little. I guess he had had a flashback, like me or any other demigod.  
"Long enough for me to cook breakfast," I tossed him a bag of chips. "And Grover went exploring. Look, he found a friend."  
We both looked back at the poodle. The dog barked.  
Grover said, "No, he's not."  
Percy looked confused. Did he not know that satyrs could talk to animals?  
"Are you...talking to that thing?"  
The poodle growled.  
"This _thing,_" Grover warned, "Is our ticket west. Be nice to him."  
"You can talk to animals." I rolled my eyes.  
Grover ignored the question. "Percy, meet Gladiola. Gladiola, Percy."  
Percy stared at me.  
"I'm not saying hello to a pink poodle," He said. "Forget it." Why is he always so stubborn?  
"Percy," I said. "I said hello to the poodle. You say hello to the poodle."  
The poodle growled, again.  
"Hello." Percy muttered.  
Grover told Percy what he had told me.  
"How does Gladiola know about the reward?" Percy asked.  
"She read the sign." Grover said. "Duh."  
"Of course," Percy said. "Silly me."  
Grover and I ignored him. "So we turn in Gladiola," I explained in my best strategy voice, "we get the money and buy tickets to Los Angeles. Simple."  
Percy was silent for a moment and then said warily, "Not another bus."  
"No," I agreed.  
I pointed downhill, towards the train tracks that I had Grover had pointed too, earlier. "There's an Amtrack station half a mile that way. According to Gladiola, the west bound train leaves at noon." 


	8. Sightseeing

Two days were spent on the Amtrak train, heading west through hills, over rivers, past tawny waves of grain.  
Nothing attacked us, but we were still tense. I felt like I was being watched from above and even underneath the earth, like they were waiting for an occasion to send a fiend or something.  
All through the trip, I caught Percy constantly glancing nervously at a sign of him. Pictures were hung everywhere. Most of the newspapers had the picture that was taken of him at the bus incident with the Furies. His sword was a metallic blur so you could not make out the sword in his hand.  
The caption underneath the photo read:

_Twelve year old Percy Jackson, wanted for questioning in the Long Island disappearance of his mother two weeks ago, is shown here fleeing from a bus where he accosted several elderly female passengers. The bus exploded on an east New Jersey roadside shortly after Jackson fled the scene. Based on eyewitness accounts, police believe the boy may be travelling with two teenage accomplices. His step-father, Gabe Ugliano, has offered a cash reward for information leading to his capture._

Percy looked worried so I comforted him. "Don't worry," I told him. "Mortal police could never find us." I had been caught before by police when I ran away but I managed to escape them.  
I looked out the window at the building passing by, I was really bored.  
Once, I saw a family of centaurs gallop past, on a wheat field, bows at the ready, as they hunted lunch. There was a little boy centaur, who was the size of a second-grader on a pony, waved at someone next to me. I turned and looked at the person they were waving at, it was Percy. He didn't notice me looking at him when he glanced around the car. I nodded off, after a while.

Our reward money for returning Gladiola the poodle had only been enough to obtain tickets as far as Denver.  
We couldn't get berths in the sleeper car, so we dozed off in our seats.  
I woke up only a few minutes later; luckily, I didn't have any dreams.  
"I won't help you," I jumped a little, when Percy had mumbled. Won't help who? I thought. I studied Percy while he slept. He had a slight frown on his forehead; his long eyelashes were scrunched a little. He breathed slowly but deeply. His head leaned against the window, his mouth open a little.  
He looked kinda cute.  
Grover kept on bleating and waking Percy up, but then he fell asleep as quick as he had woken.  
Grover bleated again, and this time Percy stayed awake. He sat up a bit more in his seat and then glanced at me. He touched his mouth- probably checking he wasn't drooling- and then gazed out the window.  
A few minutes later, Grover shuffled around and his fake foot fell off. Percy and I had to stick it back on before anyone could notice.  
"So," I asked Percy, once we'd got Grover's shoe readjusted, "Who wants your help?"  
"What do you mean?"  
"When you were asleep just now, you mumbled, 'I won't help you,' Who were you dreaming about?"  
Percy looked like he wasn't going to say anything, but then said. "I keep on have this dream. It's about a cold, deep, icy voice- in a dark pit that looks bottomless- calling me." He paused, "Then he shows me my mom, and then she disappears. And the voice- it sounds like a man- says he can give it to me. So it must be Hades. He laughs and then there's like this invisible force that pulls me into the hole in the ground. Then the voice says help me rise. Then I wake up."  
I thought about it for a while. Well, it's definitely not Hades because he, under no circumstances, laughs. Why would Hades want to be helped out of the underworld if he's already got the bolt? "That doesn't sound like Hades. He always appears on a black throne, and he never laughs."  
"He offered my mother in a trade. Who else could do that?" Good point.  
"I guess... if he meant, 'Help me rise from the underworld.' If he wants war with the Olympians. But why ask you to bring him the master bolt if he already has it?"  
Percy shook his head. A thought suddenly occurred in my mind: What if Hades doesn't have the bolt? He _must _have it, though. But then again, the Furies where asking _Where is it? Where?_ They were asking for an object _not_ a person. That sent a cold chill down my spine. Did Percy just want his mum back? Is that the only reason why he came on the quest?  
Grover snorted in his sleep and muttered, "Vegetables...yum..." and turned his head.  
His horns were showing a little so I readjusted his cap so it covered them. "Percy, you can't barter with Hades. You know that, right? He's deceitful, heartless and greedy. I don't care if the Kindly Ones weren't aggressive this time-"  
"This time?" Percy asked. "You mean you've run into them before?"  
I touched my bead with Thalia's pine tree on, I remembered when the Furies had come after us then, sent by Hades. "Let's just say I've got no love for the Lord of the Dead. You can't be tempted to make a deal for your mom."  
"What would you do if it was your dad?"  
"That's easy," I said, I hate him, "I'd leave him to rot."  
"You're not serious?"  
I looked at Percy; he never had to live with my family. They treated me like a freak. "My dad's resented me since the day I was born, Percy." I said. "He never wanted a baby. When he got me, he asked Athena to take me back and raise me on Olympus because he was too busy with his work. She wasn't happy about that. She told him heroes had to be raised by their mortal parent."  
"But how... I mean, I guess you weren't born in a hospital..."  
"I appeared on my father's doorstep, in a golden cradle, carried down by Zephyr the west wind. You'd think my dad would remember that as a miracle, right? Like, maybe he'd take some digital photos or something. But he always talked about my arrival as if it was the most inconvenient thing that ever happened to him. When I was five he got married and totally forgot about Athena. He got a 'regular' mortal wife, and had two 'regular' mortal kids, and tried to pretend I didn't exist."  
Percy stared out the window. He was silent for a few minutes.  
"My mom married a really awful guy," He told me. "Grover said she did it too protect me, to hide me in the scent of a human family. Maybe that was what your dad was thinking."  
I don't think so, he hated me. I pinched the golden college ring that was my father's. I don't know why I keep it on.  
"He doesn't care about me," I said. "His wife – my stepmom –treated me like a freak. She wouldn't let me play with her children. My dad went along with her. Whenever something dangerous happened- you know, something with monsters- they would both look at me resentfully, like, 'How dare you put our family at risk!' Finally, I took the hint. I wasn't wanted. I ran away."  
"How old were you?"  
"Same age as when I started camp. Seven."  
"But… you couldn't have got all the way to Half-Blood Hill by yourself."  
"Not alone, no. Athena watched over me, guided me towards help. I made a couple of unexpected friends who took care of me, for a short time anyway."  
That left me thinking about Thalia, Luke and Grover; how they had helped me. I remembered all our monsters attacks. They had fought along side me and protected me. But then Thalia, my best friend, got turned into a pine tree. I went there every night and touched the pine tree so I could remember her, well all the time before I went on this quest.  
Percy didn't say anything; he just sat very still and stared out the window.

As the second day on the train, June 13, drew closer to an end, eight days before the summer solstice, we past through some golden hills and over the Mississippi River into St Louis. I spotted the Gateway Arch as it passed by, and craned my neck to look at it, this may be the only time I get to see it. It looked wonderful, it was built brilliantly.  
"I want to do that," I sighed.  
"What?" Percy asked.  
"Build something like that. You ever see the Parthenon, Percy?"  
"Only in pictures."  
"Someday, I'm going to see it in person. I'm going to build the greatest monument to the gods ever. Something that'll last a thousand years."  
Percy laughed. "You? An architect?"  
I could feel my cheeks burning. "Yes, an architect. Athena expects her children to create things, not tear them down," I could feel my frustration really starting to swell "like a certain god of earthquakes I could mention." I added bitterly.  
Percy turned to look at the churning water of the Mississippi below. Suddenly, I saw the hurt in his eyes and realized I'd stepped too far.  
"Sorry," I apologised. "That was mean."  
"Can't we work together a little?" He sighed. "I mean, didn't Athena and Poseidon ever cooperate?"  
Had they ever cooperated? They never really agreed about anything. But…"I guess… the chariot," I said thoughtfully. "My mom invented it, but Poseidon created the horses out of the crest of waves. So they had to work together to make it complete."  
"Then we can cooperate, too. Right?"  
Still watching the Arch, I thought about it. He's still a dirty rotten son of Poseidon. And maybe I don't want to stinking co-operate! He thinks he can just go off and laugh at me, then suggest that I co-operate with him? He's got nerve, I'll give him that. And I suppose, well, he's not that bad. Maybe a bit rash and tackless, but what half-blood isn't? I suppose we could just 'kind of' get on for this one quest. Afterwards, I'll just not speak to him again. That way, I get to make sure he doesn't mess up the quest, and I don't have to be all 'nicey nicey' afterwards. Yeah…that'll work…. "I suppose," I said at last.  
Finally, we pulled into the Amtrak station downtown. The intercom told us we'd have a three hour stop-over before departing for Denver. _Great_!, I thought, _we can go sightseeing while we have the chance. _  
I looked around the station for an exit, so we could see the Arch.  
Grover stretched and said, "Food," Before he was fully awake.  
I spotted the exit. "Come on, goat boy," I said "Sightseeing."  
"Sightseeing?"  
""The Gateway Arch." I said. "This maybe re only chance to ride to the top. Are you coming or not?"  
Grover and Percy exchanged looks, I could tell they both didn't want to come; but they had no choice, they wouldn't leave me on my own, a monster could attack me at any moment.  
Grover shrugged. "AS long as here's a snack bar without monsters." I smiled.

The Arch was about a mile away from the station. Luckily, the lines to get in it weren't that long. We wove our way through the underground Museum, looking at covered wagons and other fascinating things from the 1800's.  
I kept on telling them interesting facts about the Arch. "The cross-sections of the Arch's legs are equilateral triangles, narrowing from 54 feet (16 m) per side at the base to 17 feet (5.2 m) at the top. Each wall consists of a stainless steel skin covering a sandwich of two carbon steel walls with reinforced concrete in the middle from ground level to 300 feet (91 m), with carbon steel and rebar from 300 feet (91 m) to the peak. The Arch is hollow and contains a unique tram system that brings visitors to an observation deck at the top. The interior also contains two stairwells of 1,076 steps each for use in emergencies…" Once I had told them all I knew about the Arch, which was a lot, I began reading about the construction equipment used to build the Arch on an information board. To my dismay, I already knew most of the facts on the board.  
"Guys," Percy said. "You know the Gods' symbol of power?"  
I looked over at him, hoping he had a something more interesting to say than these boring facts that I already knew. "Yeah?"  
"Well, Hade-"  
Grover cleared his throat. "We're in a public place… You mean, our friend downstairs?"  
"Um, right." Percy said. "Our friend _way_ downstairs. Doesn't he have a hat like Annabeth's?"  
"You mean the helm of darkness?" I said. My hat is _completely_ different. Mine just makes you invisible but you can still see the shadow, but Hades' helm allows you to walk through walls and not even be heard. There are a lot of differences. "Yeah, that's his symbol of power. I saw it next to his seat during the winter solstice council meeting."  
"He was there?" Percy asked me.  
I nodded. "It's the only time he's allowed to visit Olympus- the darkest day of the year. But his helmet is a lot more powerful than my invisibility hat, if what I've head is true…"  
"It allows him to become darkness," Grover confirmed. "He can melt into shadow or pass through walls. He can't be touched, or seen, or heard. And he can radiate fear so intense it can drive you insane or stop your heart. Why do you think all rational creatures fear the dark?"  
"But then… how do we know he's not here right now, watching us?" Percy asked.  
Grover and I exchanged looks. That's a thought.  
"We don't." Grover said.  
"Thanks, that makes me feel a lot better." Percy said. "Got any blue jelly beans left?"  
What if he _was_ watching us?, I thought. The thought left me very unsettled. It did not help my nerves when I saw the tiny little elevator that we were going to have to ride to the top in. I hated small spaces, and my ADHD was not going to help either.  
We got shoehorned into the car with this big fat lady and her dog, a Chihuahua with a rhinestone collar. I figured the dog was a seeing-eye Chihuahua, because none of the guards said anything.  
We started going up, inside the Arch. This was the first elevator that I had been on that went in a curve. It was an original idea of Eero Saarinen, the architect who designed the Gateway Arch.  
"No parents?" The fat lady asked.  
She had beady eyes; pointy, coffee-stained white teeth; a floppy denim hat, and a denim dress that bulged so much she looked like a blue-jean balloon.  
"There below," I told her, "Scared of heights."  
"Oh, the poor darlings."  
The Chihuahua growled. The woman said, "Now, now, sonny. Behave." I noticed that the dog had the same beady eyes as its owner, intelligent and vicious. It was a bit suspicious but I let the matter pass; most dogs had beady eyes.  
Percy said. "Sonny. Is that his name?"  
"No," the lady told him.  
She smiled, as if that cleared the matter.  
At the top of the Arch, the observation deck reminded me of the small metallic planes my dad used to play with. Rows of tiny windows looked out over the city on one side and the river on the other. The view was brilliant! You could see for miles and miles, since we were, like, two hundred odd meters in the air. Percy looked a tiny bit green.  
I told Percy and Grover how I would have improved it by making the windows bigger, and designed a see through floor so it would be more fascinating. I would've stayed up there for hours but the park ranger announced that the observation deck would be closing in a few minutes.  
Percy steered Grover and me towards the exit, loaded us into the elevator and Percy was just about to get in when I (and Percy) realized there was already two other tourists inside. No room for Percy.  
"The Park ranger said, "Next car, sir." Uh Oh, We can't leave Percy; I still don't trust that fat lady.  
"We'll get out," I said. "We'll wait with you."  
But Percy said "Naw, its okay. I'll see you guys at the bottom."  
Reluctantly, Grover and I let the doors slid shut.  
"That was _not_ a good idea." Said Grover at the same time I said, "That as _not_ a wise choice."  
The ride back down to the station seemed to last _forever_. Percy could attract any monster at any moment because he had a much stronger scent than all the other average demigods. I dug my nails into the palms of my hands nervously; Grover was chewing on a tin can uncertainly.  
At last, the doors slid open. Grover and I clambered out of the cart. We went to stand at the side of the long queue. After a couple of never-ending minutes, I started pacing back and forth; Grover started his fourth can. We waited and waited and waited. But still, Percy did not turn up. Many carts had arrived at the station but no-one had come out from them.  
_Where the heck is Perseus?_, I thought angrily; he couldn't be alone for more than five minutes and get us (me and Grover) worried that a monster might have killed him.  
"Bla-aarr," Grover whimpered, "Probably dead,"  
"He is _not_ dead." I said firmly. I hardly believed myself; nether did Grover by the look on his face. "Lets get out of here and see if he is near the river."  
"But that means he must have fallen or jumped!" Grover had a terrified look on his face. I clutched his arm and towed him out of the underground station.  
As soon as we were out of the underground, Grover sighed, "Fresh air… No more smell of monsters everywhere…" I carried on dragging Grover towards the river. I hoped we would spot Percy somewhere.  
As we neared the river, emergency vehicles were surrounding the Arch like an ants nest. Police helicopters circled over head. The crowd of bystanders were like bees in a beehive. I was getting more and more worried bout Percy; what had happened on the observation deck?  
I surveyed the river. He wasn't there. I inspected the crowd. There was a load of black-haired boys there! How was I supposed to spot him in this horrendous crowd? I drew nearer to the crowd. Grover followed me closely.  
"Can you smell him?" I asked.  
"Wait a minute…" Grover closed his eyes and turned forty-five degrees left, his nose twitching. Iscanned the part of the crowd he was facing. Suddenly, I spotted amazing sea-green eyes. _Percy! _  
"Found him!" Grover said and started running- or trotting in his case- towards the amazing sea-green eyed boy. Whoa! Stop right there! This is _Percy _we are talking about. The dumb son of _Poseidon_. My mothers rival. But still I wanted to hug him and make sure he was safe, but at the same time I wanted to slap him for worrying me like that.  
"Perrr-cy!" Grover bleated.  
Percy turned around and Grover bear hugged- or goat hugged- him roughly. Grover said, "We thought you'd gone to Hades the hard way!"  
Percy extracted himself from Grover to look at me, who was trying to look angry- but couldn't help but feel relieved that he was safe. "We can't leave you alone for five minutes" What happened?"  
"I sort of fell." Great explanation!, I thought sarcastically.  
"Percy! Two hundred metres?"  
Behind us a cop shouted, "Gangway!" The crowd parted, and a few paramedics hustled out, rolling a woman on a stretcher.  
She was saying, "And this huge dog, this huge fire-breathing Chihuahua –" Huh? Was she talking about the Chihuahua in our cart? I'm sure it wasn't that big.  
"Okay, ma'am," The paramedic said. "Just calm down. Your family is fine. The medication is starting to kick in."  
"I'm not crazy! This boy jumped out of the hole and the monster disappeared." Then she saw Percy. "There he is! That's the boy!"  
Percy turned quickly and pulled me and Grover after him. We disappeared into the crowd.  
"What's going on?" I demanded. "Was she talking about the Chihuahua on the elevator?"  
He told us the whole story. That conclude of a Chimera, Echidna – the mother of monsters, his high-dive act, and the underwater lady's message. I gotta admit, I was impressed with him beating the fire-breathing Chimera. And it must have been pretty cool getting an underwater message sent from your dad- especially if he was a major god.  
Grover was first to speak. "Whoa," He said. "We've got to get you to Santa Monica! You can't ignore a summons from your dad."  
Before I could act in response, we past another reporter doing a news break, and I nearly discontinued in my tracks when he said "Percy Jackson. That's right, Dan. Channel Twelve has learned that the boy who may have caused his explosion fits the description of a young man wanted by the authorities for a serious New Jersey bus accident three days ago._ And_ the boy is believed to be travelling west. For our viewers at home, here is a photo of Percy Jackson."  
We ducked behind a news van and slipped into an alley.  
"First things first," Percy told Grover, "We've got to get out of town!"  
Somehow, we got it back to the Amtrak station without getting spotted. We got onboard a train just before it pulled out for Denver. The train rattled west as darkness blanketed the sky like a blanket, police lights still pulsing against the St Louis skyline behind us. 


	9. Prove Yourself A Coward?

9

The following afternoon, June 14th, seven days before the solstice, our train rolled into Denver. We hadn't eaten since the night before in the dining car, somewhere in Kansas. We hadn't taken a shower since Half-Blood Hill, and I was certain that was obvious.  
"Let's try to contact Chiron," I said, "I want to tell him about your talk with the river spirit."  
"We can't use phones, right?"  
"I'm not talking about phones."  
We searched through downtown for about half an hour, looking for a do-it-yourself car wash. The air was dry and hot, which felt strange after the dampness of St Louis. Everywhere we turned, the Rocky Mountains seemed to be staring at us, like a tiger about to pounce on its prey.  
Finally, we found an empty do-it-yourself car wash. We veered towards the stall furthest from the street (we didn't want anybody to see the Iris message because it would look very weird to mortals), keeping our eyes open for patrol cars. We were three teenagers- who looked like they had been dragged through a bush backwards twenty times- hanging out at a car wash without a car; any cop worth his doughnuts would figure we were up to no good.  
"What exactly are we doing?" Percy asked, as Grover took out a spray gun.  
"It's seventy-five cents," He grumbled. "I've only go two quarters left. Annabeth?"  
"Don't look at me," I said. "The dining car wiped me out."  
Percy fished out his last bit of change and gave Grover a quarter, which left him with two nickels and a drachma from Medusa's statue garden.  
"Excellent," Grover said. "We could do it with a spray bottle, of course, but the connection isn't as good, and my arm's getting tired of pumping."  
"What are you talking about?" Seaweed Brain asked.

Grover dropped the quarters into the hole and set the knob to _fine mist_. "I-Ming."  
"Instant messaging?"  
"_Iris-_messaging." I corrected. "The rainbow goddess Iris carries messages for the gods. If you know how to ask, and she's not too busy, she'll do the same for half-bloods."  
"You summon a goddess with a spray gun?" I couldn't be bothered answering his stupid question.  
Grover pointed the nozzle in the air and water hissed out in a thick white mist. "Unless you know an easier way to make a rainbow."  
I waited for the late afternoon light to filter through the vapour and break into columns before holding my hand out to Percy. "Drachma, please."  
He handed it over.  
I raised the coin over my head. "O goddess, except our offering."  
I threw the drachma into the rainbow. Just as I expected, it disappeared in a golden shimmer.  
"Half-Blood Hill." I requested.  
For a instant, everything was still.  
Then I was looking through the mist at the ripe strawberry grassland, and the Long Island Sound in the distance. We seemed to be on the covered entrance in front of the Big House. I recognised the sandy-haired boy with a bronze sword standing on the porch instantly. Immediately, I began straightening my very grimy camp-half-blood t-shirt and tried to comb the loose hair out of my face, I didn't look very presentable to my really good friend.  
"Luke!" Percy called.  
He turned, eyes wide. He was standing a metre from us through a screen of mist; I hoped the mist made me look less unclean.  
"Percy!" His face broke into a grin. "Is that Annabeth too? Thank the gods! Are you guys okay?"  
"We're...uh ...fine." I stammered, still madly cleaning myself up. "We thought- Chiron- I mean-"  
"He's down at the cabins," His smile faded. "We're having some issues with the campers. Listen, is everything cool with you? Is Grover alright?" Issues? What was wrong? Had campers found out about our 'secret' quest?  
"I'm right here." Grover called. He held the nozzle out to one side and stepped into Luke's line of vision. "What kind of issues?"  
At that precise moment, a large Lincoln Continental pulled into the car wash with its stereo system turned to the utmost volume. As the car slid into the next booth, the bass from the subwoofers vibrated so much, it made the pavement tremble.  
"Chiron had to- What's that noise?" Luke yelled over the volume.  
"I'll take care of it!" I yelled back, relived to get out of view and be able to do something useful for Luke. "Grover, come on!"  
"What?" Grover complained. "But-"  
"Give Percy the nozzle and come on!" I ordered.  
Grover muttered something about girls being harder to understand than the Oracle of Delphi, I ignored him and started to walk towards the next stall. As we neared the vehicle, the music got louder and louder. The noise was so loud it made my eardrums throb.  
I stomped up to the driver's seat and knocked on his window firmly. Two quick raps.  
_Thud. Thud._  
The driver lazily turned his head round to face me. He rolled his eyes as he rolled the glass down inch by inch, and gave me a questioning look. When the window was fully down, I bellowed over the noise "COULD YOU TURN THAT RACKECT DOWN?" He turned it down two notches, it didn't make much difference.  
It was my turn to roll my eyes. "_Big_ difference." I shouted sarcastically.  
"What your prob'em?" He barked.  
"My friend over there," I pointed to the next stall, "Is trying to speak; but can't be heard over this noise!"  
He looked over to the next stall. Luckily, the motors and pumps were covering the Iris-message from view. Grover, who was looking around the stall like nothing was bothering him, was standing in front of a gap in the machines- so you defiantly couldn't see Percy and the Iris-message.  
"What's he doin' there?" He accused Grover.  
"_He_ is my friend." I defended Grover. Grover looked at the man with a scared expression on his face. That's when I realized the man did look pretty scary, but not scarier than monsters. He had a red bandana with skulls dotted all over it, tied around his large head. Thick, greasy, murky, brown hair fell to his shoulders under his bandana. The man had piercings all over his face; piercings ran all the way down the side of both ears, two rings on his left nostril. He even had one on his bottom lip and a couple on his eyebrows. He had piggy black eyes with a very large nose. His eyebrows were as thick as slugs; it looked like his eyebrows needed a cut in the middle because they were slowly starting to create a monobrow. The guy had massive biceps, with a skull tattoo on his shoulder.  
_Eww, _was my only thought, _he looks like an Ares kid. _

"_Anyway_," I stated, "You could at least have better music on than _that_ old hip-hop."  
With that, he decreased the music, drastically. He then flexed his muscles and opened the car door and stood there with a pure look of hatred written all over his face.  
Leisurely, he clenched his fist. I took out my knife, though it was no use against a mortal. He was just about to punch me when his beady eye saw my knife (fortunately, the Mist transformed the knife into something else.) His eyes widened and he let out a petrified scream. "AARRRRGGGHHHHH!" He jumped back into his car, switched the music of fully and slammed on the accelerator and swerved out of the car wash, leaving a cloud of diesel behind.  
I coughed and turned to Grover. "Why didn't you help me?"  
Grover gulped, still looking at the exit of the car wash with wide eyes. "Blahh-haha. You handled it fine by yourself."  
I smirked. "Guess he didn't like me insulting his hip-hop."  
Grover laughed. "Yeah…"  
We both started laughing and headed back to Percy. The smile slid of my face, like water drips of a vertical surface, when I saw the look on Percy's face. "What happened, Percy? What did Luke say?" "Not much," Percy said, I could tell he was lying, but let the matter drop. "Come on, let's find some dinner."

A few minutes later, we were sitting at a booth in a gleaming chrome diner. All around us, families were tucking into their meals.  
At last, the waitress came over. She raised her eyebrow sceptically. "Well?"  
Percy said, "We, um, want to order dinner."  
"You kids have money to pay for it?"  
Grover's lip quivered. I prayed he wouldn't start bleating, or worse, start eating the furniture. Percy looked like he hadn't had food for weeks. It was just then that I realized how hungry I was- I felt as empty as Cabin One.  
I couldn't think very clearly of a good sappy story for the waitress when a grumble shook the whole building; a motorcycle the dimension of an infant elephant had pulled up on the pavement.  
All discussion in the diner halted. The motorcycle's headlight glared red. Its gas tank had flames decorated on it, and a shotgun holster engrossed to either side, absolute with shot guns. The seat was leather- but leather that looked like... well, Caucasian human being hides.  
The guy on the big would have made pro wrestlers look like gangling kids. He was dressed in a red muscle shirt and black jeans and a black leather duster, (go figure) with a hunting knife strapped to his thigh. He wore red wraparound sunglasses, and had the unruliest, most violent face I'd ever seen- handsome, I presume, but evil- with an oily black crew cut and cheeks that were scarred from numerous fights. There was only one person- God, even, - who this could be.  
The immortal, Ares, god of war.  
Get ready for the sudden anger problem, I thought.  
As he walked into the diner, a dry, hot wind blew across the place. Everyone rose, except me, Grover and Percy, as if they were hypnotized, but Ares waved his hand dismissively and the all sat down again. Everybody went back to their convocations, as if nothing had happened. The waitress blinked, as if someone had pressed the rewind button on her brain. She asked us again, "You kids have money to pay for it?"  
Ares said, "It's on me." He slid into our booth, squishing me against the window.  
He looked up at the waitress, who was gaping at him, and said, "Are you still here?"  
He pointed his finger at her, and she stiffened. She turned as if she had been twirled around, then strutted back in the direction of the kitchens.  
Who was he too, like, robot people to do what he says?, I thought angrily. A bad feeling started blistering inside my stomach. Fury, hatred, acrimony, sourness. I could go on and on. I wanted to punch somebody. Hit _something._ I wanted to scream and scream at something or somebody.  
He gave Seaweed Brain a wicked grin. "So you're old Seaweed's kid, huh?"  
"What's it to you?" Percy retorted.  
I flashed him a warning, trying to keep him (and myself) calm. "Percy, this is-"  
Ares raised his hand. I stopped speaking straight away.

"S'okay," He said. "I don't mind a little attitude. Long as you remember who's boss. You know who I am, little cousin?"  
Seaweed Brain thought for a moment.  
Wow, Seaweed Brain is _actually thinking_!, I thought sarcastically. It was kind of obvious who this guy was; he had the same brutal sneer etched onto his face as the one Clarisse and her siblings had and he had a, kind of... aura, that made you really mad for no reason at all.  
"Your Clarisse's dad," Percy said. See the resemblance? "Ares, god of war."  
Ares grinned and took of his shades. Where his eyes should have been, there were only small balls of glowing fire. "That's right, punk." Same word used as the cabin five kids. "I heard you broke Clarisse's spear."  
"She was asking for it."  
"Probably. That's cool. I don't fight my kids' fights, you know? What I'm here for- I heard you were in town. I got a little proposition for you."  
At that moment, the waitress came back with heaping trays of food- fries, cheeseburgers, chocolate shakes and onion rings.  
Ares handed her a small number of gold drachmas.  
She looked nervously at the coins. "But, these aren't..."  
Ares pulled out his huge knife and started cleaning his fingernails. "Problem, sweetheart?"  
The waitress swallowed, then left with the gold.  
"You can't do that." Percy told Ares. "You can't just threaten people with a knife."  
Ares laughed. "Are you kidding? I love this country. Best place since Sparta. Don't carry a weapon, punk? You should. Dangerous world out there. Which brings me to my proposition. I need you to do me a favour."  
"What favour could I do for a god?"  
"Something a god doesn't have time to do himself. It's nothing much. I left my shield at an abandoned water park here in town. I was going on a little…date with my girlfriend. We were interrupted. I left my shield behind. I want you to fetch it for me."  
"Why don't you go back and get it yourself."  
The fire in Ares' eyes glowed a little lighter.  
"Why don't I turn you into a prairie dog and run you over with my Harley?" That's nasty. "Because I don't feel like it. A god is giving you an opportunity to prove yourself, Percy Jackson. Will you prove yourself a coward?" He leaned forward. "Or maybe you only fight when there's a river to dive into, so your daddy can protect you."  
Percy looked like he was ready to through a punch at him. His hand curled into a fist but then, like he knew Ares wanted it, his hand slackened.  
"We're not interested," Percy said. "We've already got a quest."  
"I know all about your quest, punk. When that _item_ was first stolen, Zeus sent his best out looking for it: Apollo, Athena, Artemis and me, naturally. If I couldn't sniff out a weapon that powerful…" He licked his lips as if he ate weapons. "Well… if I couldn't find it, you got no hope. Nevertheless, I'm trying to give you a benefit of a doubt. Your dad and I go way back. After all, I'm the one who told him about my suspicions about old Corpse Breath."  
"You told him Hades stole the bolt?" Percy took the words right out of my mouth.  
"Sure. Framing somebody to start a war. Oldest trick in the book. I recognized it immediately. In a way, you got me to thank for your little quest."  
"Thanks." Percy grumbled.  
"Hey, I'm a generous guy. Just do my little job, and I'll help you on your way. I'll arrange a ride west for you and your friends."  
"We're doing Fine on our own." Humph.  
"Yeah, right. No money. No wheels. No clue what you're up against." I had to agree with Ares on this one. "Help me out, and maybe I'll tell you something you need to know. Something about your mom."  
"My mom?"  
He grinned. "That got your attention. The water park is mile west on Delancy. You can't miss it. Look for the Tunnel of Love ride." The Tunnel of _what?_

"What interrupted your date?" Percy asked. "Something scare yu off?"  
Ares bared his teeth, Clarisse had bore this threatening look on her face before. Not a good sign.  
"You're lucky you met me, punk, and not one of the other Olympians. They're not as forgiving of rudeness as I am." _Yeah, cos you make people angry. Duh! _"I'll meet you back here when yu're done. Don't disappoint me."  
After that, Ares must have put a trance on everyone because when I opened my eyes again Ares was gone. I looked at Percy and Gave him a worrying look, so did Grover.  
"Not good," Grover said. "Ares sought you out, Percy. This is not good."  
Percy stared out the window. I noticed the motorcycle had disappear as well as Ares. My anger drained out of me. That was Ares; power: mess with people's emotions and make them all cranky.  
After a couple of minutes Percy said, "It's probably some kind of trick," He said. "Forget Ares. Let's go." What was he thinking? You can't ignore a god!  
"We can't." I said. "Look, I hate Ares as much as anybody, but you don't ignore the gods unless yu want serious bad fortune. He wasn't kidding about turning you into a rodent."  
He looked down at his untouched burger. "Why does he need us?"  
"Maybe it's a problem that requires brains," I said, everything requires brains. "Ares has strength. That's all he has. Even strength has to bow to wisdom sometimes."  
"But this water park… he acted almost scared. What would make a war god run away like that?"  
Grover and I glanced nervously at each other.  
I said, "I'm afraid we'll have to find out."

The sun was descending behind the snowy mountains by the time we found the water park. By the looks of it, it had once been called WATERLAND, but now some of the letters were smashed out, so it read WAT R A D.  
The main gate was padlocked and topped with barbed wire. Inside, huge dry water slides, tubes and pipes arched everywhere, leading to empty pools. Old tickets and advertisements fluttered around the tarmac. With the night sky, creep into the sky, the place looked depressing and spine-chilling.  
"If Ares brings his girlfriend here for a date," Percy said, staring up at the barbed wire. "I'd hate to see what she looks like."  
"Percy," I warned. "Be more respectful."  
""Why? I thought you hated Ares."  
"He's still a god. And his girlfriend is very temperamental."  
"You don't want to insult her looks." Grover added.  
"Who is she? Echidna?" Do you really think Ares would date Echidna?  
"No, Aphrodite," Grover said a bit dreamily. "Goddess of Love."  
"I thought she was married to somebody." Percy said. "Hephaestus."  
"What's your point?" Grover asked.  
"Oh." Percy said. "So how do we get in?"  
"_Maia_!" Grover's shoes sprouted wings.  
He flew over the fence, did an unintended somersault in midair, and then stumbled to a landing on the opposite side of the fence. He dusted of his jeans, as if he'd planned the whole thing. "You guys coming?"  
Easy For him, Percy and I had to climb the old-fashioned way, holding the barbed wire for each other as we crawled over the top.  
The shows grew longer and longer as we walked through the park looking for the Tunnel ride of Love.  
No movement was made except our shadows. It was pretty suspicious.  
We found a souvenir shop that was left open. Merchandise still lined the shelves: pencils, snow globes, postcards and racks of… fresh, clean clothes.  
"Clothes," I aid. "Fresh clothes."  
"Yeah," Percy said. But you can't just –"  
"Watch me." No- one, I mean _no-one,_ was stopping me from being clean, especially after my embarrassing moment in front of Luke, being drastically dirty.  
~I snatched an entire row of stuff of the racks, I didn't know which ones would fit me, and disappeared into a changing room. A few minutes later I came out in Waterland flower-print shorts, a big red Waterland T-shirt and commemorative Waterland surf shoes. A Waterland backpack was slung over my shoulder, which I had stuffed with more goodies for later.  
"What the heck." Grover shrugged. Soon, all three of us were decked in Waterland clothes.  
We continued looking for the Tunnel of Love. "So Ares and Aphrodite," Percy said. "They have a thing going?"  
"That's old gossip, Percy," I restrained myself from calling him Seaweed Brain. "Three-thousand-year-old gossip."  
"What about Aphrodite's husband?"  
"Well, you know," I said. He has a load to learn. "Hephaestus. The blacksmith. He was crippled when he was a baby, thrown off Mount Olympus by Zeus. So he isn't exactly handsome. Clever with his hands and all, but Aphrodite isn't into brains and talent, you know?"  
"She likes bikers." Has his simple comment.  
"Whatever."  
"Hephaestus knows?"  
"Oh, sure," I said. "He caught them together once. I mean, literally caught them, in a golden net, and invited all the gods to come and laugh at them. Hephaestus is always trying to embarrass them. That's why they meet in out-of-the-way places, like…"  
That's when I spotted the Tunnel of Love. I stopped and looked straight ahead. "Like that."  
The ride was at least fifty metres across and shaped like a bowl.  
Around the rim, a dozen bronze statues of Cupid stood guard with wings spread and bows ready to fire. On the opposite side of us, a tunnel opened up, probably where the water flowed into when the pool was full. On the inside of the bowl, around the top of the pool, mirrors ran all the way round the edge; so which ever way you looked you would see yourself with your partner. Just what Aphrodite would love to see: herself. The sign above the ride read: THRILL RIDE O' LOVE: THIS IS NOT YOUR PARENTS' TUNNEL OF LOVE!  
Grover crept towards the edge. "Guys, look."  
Marooned at the bottom of the pool was a pink and white two-seater boat with a canopy over the top and little hearts painted all over it. In the left seat, glinting in the fading light, was Ares' shield. A very well polished circle of bronze.  
"This is too easy." Percy said. I agreed silently. "So we just walk down there and get it?"  
There _must_ be a clue somewhere. I ran my fingers along the base of the nearest Cupid statue. I inspected it closely.  
"There's a Greek letter carved here," I observed, "Eta. I wonder…"  
I didn't listen to Percy and Grover's conversation while I thought.  
I was a little curious about how we could get our hands on Ares' shield. This Thrill Ride of Love was giving me a weird feeling… like someone was waiting- or watching- us, like this was a trap. My brain was racing to work out a plan. If we could just climb into the bowl-like shape of the ride and grab it carefully before-  
"I don't know. Just a feeling. Annabeth, come with me-"  
Percy stopped my train of thoughts at once. And a somewhat awkward, thought entered my mind.  
The picture of Percy and me sitting next to each other in a heart shaped tube sailing in the water…No way, was I going to let that happen! My cheeks coloured and I failed to bring my blush down.  
"Are you kidding?" I stared at Percy.  
"What's the problem now?" He demanded.  
"Me, go with you to the…the 'Thrill Ride of Love'? How embarrassing is that? What if somebody saw me?"  
"Who's going to see you?" His face was burning- just like mine. I couldn't tell whose was brighter. Leave it to Seaweed Brain to embarrass me. "Fine," He told me, "I'll do it myself." Leave it to Seaweed brain? That would make things worse! He would do something wrong and then end up dying!  
"Alright," I mumbled, and followed him down. "Boys always mess things up."  
We reached the boat. The shield was propped up on the seat. A silky, bright, pink scarf laid next to it. Aphrodite's scarf, probably.  
Percy picked up the scarf. He was bringing it up to his face when I snatched it out of his hand. "Oh, no you don't. stay away from the love magic." The Myth was that Who-ever smelt the scarf would fall in love with the next person the saw. I was definitely not having a lovesick Seaweed Brain following me.  
"What?"  
"Just get the shield, Seaweed Bain, and let's get out of here."  
My eyes searched the edge of the boat for any more Greek letters. I spotted another Greek 'H': Eta.  
"Wait." I said.  
"Too late." Percy Held the Shield in one hand and a thin metal filament. A tripwire.  
"There's another Greek letter on the side of the boat, another Eta. This is a trap."  
Noise erupted all around us, of a million gears grinding, as if the whole pool were turning into one giant machine.  
Grover yelled. "Guys!"  
Up on the rim, The Cupids were drawing there bows into firing position. Then before we could take cover, they shot, but not at us. The fired at each other, across the rim of the pool, silky cables traced were the arrows had flown over and anchoring where they landed to form a huge golden basket over our heads. Then smaller metallic thread started weaving together, creating a net.  
"We have to get out." Percy stated the obvious.  
"Duh!" I said.  
We ran, but going up the slope was harder than getting down.  
"Come on!" Grover shouted.  
He was trying to hold open a section of the net for us to climb through, but wherever he touched it the wire started to wrap around his hands.  
Suddenly, the Cupids' heads burst open. Out came video cameras. Spotlights rose up all around the pool, blinding us with clarification and a loud speaker voice boomed: "Live to Olympus in one minute… Fifty-nine seconds, fifty-eight…"  
"Hephaestus!" I screamed in realization. "I'm so stupid! Eta is 'H'. He made this trap to catch Ares with his wife. Now we're going to be broadcast live to Olympus and look like absolute fools!"  
We'd roughly made it to the rim when the rows of mirrors opened like hatches and thousands of tiny metallic things poured out.  
Eight legs. Eight eyes. Small bodies. Little pincers. All lead up to one creepy crawly: SPIDER!  
"Spiders!" I screamed. "Sp-sp-aaaah!"  
I fell backwards in terror. They started swarming all over me, they nearly over-whelmed me when somebody- Percy- pulled me up and dragged me backwards, towards the boat.  
The spiders were coming out from all over the rim now, millions of them, were filing into the bowl. They were completely surrounding us now. There was not a single gap that didn't have a spider in it.  
We climbed into the boat. Percy was kicking the spiders away, while I was being very helpful (sarcastic) by screaming.  
"Help me!" Percy yelled at me. But I was too paralysed to do much more than scream.  
"Thirty, twenty-nine." Called the loudspeaker.  
The spiders started spitting out strands of thread. Percy was kicking spiders away from me and breaking the thread that was wrapping around our ankles.  
Grover hovered above the pool, tugging at the net, trying to pull it loose, but it didn't make a difference.  
"Fifteen, fourteen," The loudspeaker called.  
Percy was shouting at someone- whether it was me or Grover, I didn't know.  
An unusually large metal spider crawled towards me; I screamed louder.  
"Fiver, Four," The loudspeaker was echoing around in my head, increasing it's volume.  
More spiders were swarming in from the mirrors.  
"Two, one, _zero_!"  
Unexpectedly, water exploded into the bowl. It roared into the pool, sweeping away the spiders. Percy pulled me into the seat next to him and fastened my seat belt. Even though I was paralysed by the spiders, I wasn't able to stop the butterflies in my stomach, at the tight grip of Percy's hands on my waist. I didn't have much time to think about that as a huge tidal wave hit us. We spun around in circles like a whirlpool. We were both screaming our heads of as we were tossed around the bowl. I wanted to do a lot of things like…be useful, or thank Percy; but at the moment all I could do was sit there, stunned at the sudden appearance of the metal spiders.  
We splashed into the tunnel, past pictures of Romeo and Juliet and gushy romance pictures like that.  
Then we were out of the tunnel, the night air whistling through our ears as the boat barrelled straight towards the exit. I realized then that the Exit gates were all locked up. How on earth were we supposed to get out? Two boats that had been washed out were piled up against the barricade- both smashed to pieces.  
Then Percy said the most _stupidest_ thing that he has _ever_ said to me. "Unfasten you seat belt."  
"Are you crazy?" I yelled back.  
"Unless you want to get smashed o death." He strapped Ares' shield to his rm. "We're going to have to jump for it." His idea was straightforward and insane. But I realized what he meant: use the boat to jump and get out. As the boat struck, we would use its force like a springboard to jump the gate.  
As the gates got closer, I gripped Percy's hand tightly, ready to jump.  
"When I say go," He said.  
"No! When I say go!"  
"What?"  
"Simple physics!" I yelled. "Force times the trajectory angle-"  
"Fine!" He shouted. "When _you_ say go!"  
Wait…wait…wait..then -"Now!"  
_Crack!_  
_I was right! Yes! I did it! I got it right!  
_Unfortunately, it was a little more than we needed. Our boat smashed into the pileup and we were thrown into the air, straight over the gates, over the pool, and down towards solid tarmac.  
Someone grabbed me from behind.  
"Ouch!" I yelled.  
Grover!  
In midair, he had grabbed my arm, painfully-might I add-, and Percy by the shirt. But we were to heavy for the flying shoes.  
"You're too heavy!" Grover said. "We're going down!"  
We spiralled towards the ground, Grover doing his best to slow the fall.  
We smashed into a photo board, Grover's head going straight through where the tourists would put their faces. Percy and I tumbled to the ground. Bruised and all, but alive. Ares' shield strapped onto Percy's rm.  
Once we had Caught our breath, Percy and I got Grover out of the board and thanked him for saving our lives.  
I looked back at the Trill Ride of Love. The water was subsiding. Our boat was smashed to pieces against the gates.  
A hundred metres away, at the entrance of the pool, the Cupids were still filming. The statues had swivelled so that their cameras were trained straight on us, the spotlights shining in our faces.  
"Show's over!" Percy yelled. "Thank you! Goodnight!"  
They turned back to their original positions. The lights turned off. The park went eerie and quiet again. I wonder who was watching our humiliating performance on the ride.  
I hated being tricked. Especially being a daughter of Athena. Percy turned to face us. "We need to have a little talk with Ares."


	10. Because Your My Friend, Seaweed Brain

10. Because you're my friend, Seaweed Brain.

Ares was waiting for us at the diner car park, leaning against his bike like he didn't care about anything in the world.  
"Well, well," He said. "You didn't get yourself killed."  
"You knew it was a trap." Percy stated.  
Ares gave him an 'I know' grin. "Bet that crippled blacksmith was surprised when he netted a couple of stupid kids. You looked good on TV."  
Percy shoved the shield roughly at him. "You're a jerk."  
Grover and I caught our breath.  
Ares grabbed the shield and spun it on his pinky finger, like a basketball. It morphed into a bulletproof vest. He slung it across his back.  
"See the truck over there?" he pointed to an eighteen-wheeler parked on the opposite side of the street. "That's your ride. Take you straight to L.A., with one stop in Vegas."  
the eighteen-wheeler had a large print on the back; luckily, it was reverse-printed white on black, excellent for ADHD people: KINDNESS INTERNATIONAL: HUMANE ZOO TRANSPORT. WARNING: LIVE ANIMALS.

_Did he think we were animals? It'll stink like bad manure in their!_  
Percy said, "You're kidding."  
Ares snapped his fingers. The back door of the van unlatched. "Free ride west, punk. Stop complaining. And here's a little something for doing the job."  
He slung a blue nylon backpack off his handle bars and tossed it to Percy.  
Inside were fresh clothes for all of us, twenty bucks in cash pouch full of golden Drachmas and a bag of Double Stuf Oreos.  
_My _favourite_ biscuits.  
_ Percy said, "I don't want your lousy-"  
"Thank you, Lord Ares," Grover interrupted, giving Percy the 'warning' look. "Thanks a lot."  
It was a perilous offence to reject a gift from a god. I knew all of our anger was caused by the War god. But it seemed to be affecting Percy pretty bad. Why couldn't he just _shut up?_  
I got the feeling someone was watching me, so I turned back to face the diner. The waitress who had served us dinner was studying tensely from the window, like she was frightened Ares might harm us. She hauled the cook from out of the kitchen to look. She said something to him. He nodded, held up a petite disposable camera and snapped an image of us.  
Just what we need, I thought, another round of newspaper articles with our faces on the front page.  
"You owe me one more thing," Percy said, "You promised me information about my mother."  
"You sure you can handle he news?" He kick-started his motorcycle. "She's not dead."  
The ground started to grumble. "What do you mean?"  
"I mean she was taken away from the Minotaur before she could die. She was tuned into a shower of gold, right? That's metamorphosis. Not death. She's being kept."  
"Kept. Why?"  
"You need to study war punk," He needs to study a lot of things, I thought. "Hostages. You take somebody to control somebody else."  
"Nobody's controlling me."  
He laughed. "Oh yeah? See you around, kid."  
Percy balled up his fists. "Your pretty smug, Lord Ares, for a guy who runs from Cupid statues."  
Behind his sunglasses, fire glowed. I thought he was going to punch the seaweed out of Percy's thick head. How thick could you get? A hot wind blew across the air. "We'll meet again, Percy Jackson. Next time you're in a fight, watch your back."  
He revved his Harley and speeded down Delancy Street and out of sight.  
I said, "That was not smart, Percy."  
"I don't care." You will, when the time comes.  
"You don't want a god as your enemy. Especially not that god."  
"Hey, guys," Grover said. "I hate to interrupt, but…"  
He pointed towards the diner. At the cash register, the last two customers were paying their bill, two men in identical black coveralls, with a white logo on their backs that matched the one on the truck that we were taking to go west.  
"If we're taking zoo express," Grover said. "we need to hurry."  
I didn't like the transportation vehicle, but it was our only option.  
We ran across the avenue and scrambled into the back of the van, locking the doors behind us.

The smell was just what I had expected. It was like the world's biggest pile of cow manure.  
It was dark inside, until I notice a glint from my right Percy was standing with riptide, using the glow as a light. At the back of the van, were the three most uninteresting animals that ever seen: a zebra, a male albino lion, and an antelope.  
I felt sorry for the animals; someone had thrown the lion a bag of turnips, which he observably didn't want to eat because lions are carnivores (meat eaters). The antelope and the zebra had each got a polystyrene tray of hamburger meat. The zebra's mane was entangled with chewing gum. The antelope had a stupid silvery birthday helium balloon tied to one of its horns that read: OVER THE HILL!  
Obviously, no one had dared to mess with the lion's appearance, but the underprivileged thing was pacing around in a cage that was way too little for him, panting from the unventilated heat of the trailer. He had flies buzzing around his eyes and his ribs showed through his pale fur.  
"This is kindness?" Grover yelled. "Humane zoo transport?"  
He would probably have gone out there and beat up those driver for cruelty to animals, I would've helped him, but then the truck's engines roared to life, the trailer started quivering, and we were forced to sit down otherwise we would just fall down.  
We huddled in a corner on some mildewed feed sacks, trying to pay no attention to the smell, heat and flies. Grover was talking to the animals in goat- language but they just stared at him miserably.  
"Why don't we just break the cages and free them on the spot?" I asked.  
"Yeah," Percy said sarcastically, "That's a _great_ idea, _Wisegirl_."  
"What?"  
"It wouldn't do much good until the van stops moving; Besides, I think we look a lot better to the lion than those turnips."  
"Did _not _think of that." I mumbled.  
Percy got up. I said, "I thought you just said not to free them, now!"  
"I'm not freeing them," He protested. He found a jug of water and refilled their bowls, then used his sword to drag the mismatched food out of their cages. He gave the meat to the lion and the turnips to the zebra and antelope.  
"Oh," I said. I decided to help by cutting the balloon off of the antelope's ears, using my knife. Grover calmed the antelope down while I cut it off. I wanted to cut the gum off of the zebra's hair, too, but we decided it would be too risky with the truck bumping around. We told Grover to promise the animals we'd help them more in the morning. Then we settled in for the night.  
Grover curled up on a turnip sack; I opened up a packet of Oreos and nibbled on one half-heartedly. I tried to think about the positive side of our quest. We were half-way to Los Angeles. Halfway to our intention. I was only June the fourteenth. The solstice wasn't until the twenty-first. We could make it in plenty of time.  
I felt bad for not being a wimp at the park. Spiders. Ewww.  
I wanted to apologise to Percy for being un-useful at the park.  
"Hey," I said, "I'm sorry for freaking out back at the water park, Percy."  
"That's okay."  
"It's just…" I shuddered at the thought. "Spiders."  
He probably won't understand about my fear of spiders.  
"Because Of the Arachne's story," Wow, guess not. "She got turned into a spider for challenging your mom to a weaving contest right?"  
I nodded. "Arachne's children have been taking revenge on children of Athena ever since. If there's a spider within a mile of me, it'll find me. I hate creepy little things. Anyway, I owe you."  
"We're a team remember?" Percy said. "Besides, Grover did the fancy flying."  
"I thought he was asleep, but he surprised me by saying, "I as pretty amazing, wasn't I?"  
Percy and I laughed.  
I pulled apart an Oreo, and handed Percy half. I was ready to ask he question that had been buzzing around in my head all day. "In the Iris message…did Luke really say nothing?"  
He munched his cookie. I thought he wasn't going to say anything until, "Luke said you and he go way back. He also said that Grover wouldn't fail this time. Nobody would turn into a pine tree."  
That sentence brought back sad memories of us four-Thalia, Luke, Grover and I – all trying to get to camp safely.  
Grover let out a mournful bray.  
"I should've told you the truth from the beginning." His voice trembled. "I thought if you knew I what a failure I was, you wouldn't want me along."  
"You were the satyr that tried to rescue Thalia, daughter of Zeus."  
He nodded glumly.  
"And the other two half-bloods Thalia befriended, the ones who got safely to camp." He looked at me. "That was you and Luke wasn't it?"  
He catches on quick. I put down my Oreo, uneaten. "Like you said, Percy, a seven year old half-blood wouldn't have made it very far alone. Athena guided me towards help. Thalia was twelve. Luke was Fourteen. They'd both run away from home, like me. Hey were happy to take me with them. They were… amazing monster fighters, even without training. We travelled north from Virginia without any real plans, fending of monsters for about two weeks before Grover found us." Grover led on from here.  
"I was supposed to escort Thalia to camp," Grover said, sniffling. "Only Thalia. I had strict orders from Chiron: don't do anything that would slow down the rescue. We knew Hades was after her, see, but I couldn't just leave Luke and Annabeth by themselves. I thought…I thought I could lead all three of them to safety. It was my fault the Kindly Ones caught up with us. I froze. I got scared on the way back to camp and took some wrong turns. If I'd just been a little quicker…"  
"Stop it," I said. "No one blames you. Thalia didn't blame you either."  
"She sacrificed herself to save us." He said wretchedly. "Her death was my fault. The Council of Cloven Elders said so."  
"Because you wouldn't leave two other half-bloods behind?" Percy said. "That's not fair."  
"Percy's right." Annabeth said. "I wouldn't be here today if it weren't for you, Grover. Neither would Luke. We don't care what the Council says."I tried my best to make Grover feel better.  
Grover kept sniffling in the dark. "It's just my luck. I'm the lamest satyr ever, and I find the two most powerful half-bloods of the century, Thalia and Percy."  
"You're not lame," I insisted. "You've got more courage than any other satyr I've ever met. Name one other who would dare o go to the Underworld. I bet Percy is really glad you're here right now."  
I kicked Percy in the shin, making sure he agreed.  
"Yeah," Percy said. "It's not luck that you found Thalia and me, Grover. You've got the biggest heart of any satyr ever. You're a natural searcher. That's why you'll be the one who finds Pan."  
How does he do that? Just pop out with really nice things to say, without realizing it? I heard a deep satisfied sigh. Grover's breathing got heavier and heavier. When it turned to snoring, I realized he'd fallen asleep.  
"How does he do that?" Percy marvelled.  
"I don't know," I said. "But that was a really nice thing you told him."  
"I meant it."  
I guess, I was starting to accept Percy. Just because Poseidon and Athena argued, didn't mean Percy and I would. Percy was actually different; like no one I had ever seen before. He was one of a kind.  
After a few minutes Percy spoke up. "That pine-tree bead," He said. "Was that from your first year?"  
I looked at my necklace. My hand had been rubbing the beads; I hadn't even realized.  
"Yeah," I said. "Every August, the counsellors pick the most important event of the summer, and they paint it on that year's beads. I've got Thalia's pin-tree, a Greek trireme on fire, a centaur in a prom dress- now _that_ was a weird summer…"  
"And the college ring is your fathers?"  
"That's none of your-" I stopped myself. He was my friend now, I could tell him. "Yeah. Yeah, it is."  
"You don't have to tell me."  
"No…its okay." I took a deep breath that turned out shaky. "My dad sent it to me folded up in a letter, two summers ago. The ring was, like, his main keep-safe from Athena. He wouldn't have got through his doctoral programmes at Harvard without her…That's a long story. Anyway, he said he wanted me to have it. He apologised for being a jerk, said he loved me and missed me. He wanted me to come home and live with him."  
"That doesn't sound so bad."  
"Yeah, well…the problem was, I believed him. I tried to go home for that school year, but my step-mom was the same as ever. She didn't want her kids put in danger by living with a freak. Monsters attacked. We argued. Monsters attacked. We argued. I didn't even make it through winter break. I called Chiron and came right back to Camp Half-Blood."  
"You think you'll ever try living with your dad again?"  
I looked anywhere but Percy gaze. "Please. I'm not into self-inflicted pain."  
"You shouldn't give up." Percy told me. "You should write him a letter or something."  
"Thanks for the advice." I said coldly, "but my father's made his choice about who he wants to live with."  
We passed another few minutes of silence.  
"So if he gods fight." Percy finally said. "will things line u the way they did in the Trojan War? Will it be Athena verses Poseidon?"

I put my head up against the backpack Ares had given us, and closed my eyes. "I don't know what my mom will do. I just know I'll fight next to you."  
"Why?"  
"Because I'm your friend Seaweed Brain. Anymore stupid questions?"  
I didn't wait for him to answer.  
I tried to fall asleep as easily as Grover did. And you would think it would be hard for me to fall asleep knowing there was a hungry lion staring at me, but I as actually quiet fine. I know that Percy and Grover would never let anything happen to me. I felt safe. And to be absolutely honest, that's something I've never felt before. Not even once with Luke or Thalia by my side. Maybe a camp, but then there is the chance of monsters being summoned inside the protective borders.  
And after that moment, after admitting that I saw Percy as a friend and not an acquaintance who shouldn't be liked- just because our parents were rivals, for the first time in my life... I felt safe. I felt like I could depend.  
I then fell into a peaceful, dreamless sleep.

***Next Morning***

I to find Grover staring at the doors at the back of the van. Then I realized that we weren't bumping up and down.  
The truck had stopped moving. I pointed to the animals. Grover nodded.

Grover started shaking Percy-who was asleep. "The trucks stopped." Grover said. "We think they're coming to check on the animals."  
"Hide!" I hissed at them.  
I pulled my cap out of my pocket and quickly situated it on my head. Instantly, I turned invisible. Grover and Percy dived behind he feed sacks.  
The trailer doors creaked open. Sunlight and heat washed in, flooding us all in bright light and stuffy air.  
"Man!" one of the truckers said, waving his hand in front of his nose, wafting away the bad smell. "I wish I hauled appliances." He climbed inside and poured some water from a jug into the animals' dishes.  
"You hot, big boy?" He questioned the lion, and then splashed the rest of the bucket right in the lions face. I could imagine the look of pure hate on Grover's face, right now.  
The lion roared in annoyance.  
"Yeah, yeah, yeah." The man said.  
The trucker threw the antelope a squashed looking Happy Meal bag. He smirked at the zebra. "How ya doin', Stripes? Least we'll be getting rid of _you_ this stop. You like magic shows? You're gonna love this one. They're gonna saw you in half!"  
The zebra, wild-eyed with fear, looked right at the turnip sack, where Percy and Grover were hiding.  
I had to get this trucker out of the trailer, so we could free the zebra and the animals.  
Always have a plan, I thought. I suddenly had a brilliant scheme.  
I quickly, but silently, sprinted out of the van, making sure not to make a noise. The heat was over-whelming me; I tried to take no notice of it. I quickly dashed to the side of the truck, skidding to a stop- a cloud of dust from the earth appearing at my feet.  
I knocked loudly, three times on the side of the van. _Knock, knock, knock.  
_The trucker within the truck yelled, "What do you want, Eddie?"  
The guy, with a toothbrush moustache, bellowed back, from the front of the truck, "Maurice? What'd ya say?"  
"What are you banging for?"  
I knocked again, three quick raps, _knock, knock, knock._

Eddie yelled, "What banging?"  
A few seconds later, Maurice came out the van, cursing Eddie for being an idiot. I darted back inside the lorry and landed next to the turnip sacks, where I saw Percy peeking over the top. I took my cap off and said, "This transport business can't be legal."  
"No kidding," Grover said. He paused, as if listening. "The lion says these guys are animal smugglers! We've got to free them!"  
I looked at Percy, waiting for his opinion on the situation.  
Percy stared at the zebra for a few seconds. Then out of the blue, Percy slashed at the zebra's cage lock with riptide.  
The zebra burst out of the cage like lightening had struck it. It turned and bowed to Percy. That confused me. Then I understood why: the zebra was a type of horse. Percy's dad was Poseidon so obviously the zebra would be respectful to the son of Poseidon.  
Grover held up his hands and said something to the zebra in goat-language, like a blessing.  
Just as Maurice was poking his head back inside to check what the racket was, the zebra soared over him and into the street. There was yelling and ear-piercing screaming and cars beeping their horns. We rushed to the doors of the trailer in time to see the zebra careering down a wide boulevard lined with hotels and casinos and neon signs. We'd just let a zebra on the loose in Vegas.  
Maurice and Eddie ran after it, with a couple of police men running after them, shouting. "Hey! You need a permit for that!"  
"Now would be a good time too leave." I said.  
"The other animals first." Grover said.  
Percy cut the locks with his sword. Grover raised his hands and spoke the same goat-blessing he'd used for the zebra.  
"Good luck," Percy told the animals. The last two animals burst out of their cages and galloped of together into the roads.  
The whole commotion sent tourist screaming. Most just backed off and took photographs.  
"Will the animals be okay?" Percy asked Grover. "I mean, the desert and all-"  
"Don't worry," He said. "I placed a satyr's sanctuary on them."  
"Meaning?"  
"Meaning they'll reach the wild safely," He said. "They'll find water, food, shade, whatever they need until they find a safe place to live."  
"Why can't you place a blessing like that on us?" Percy asked. _What a Seaweed Brain. _  
"It only works on wild animals."  
"So it would only affect Percy." I reasoned.  
"Hey!" Percy protested.  
"Kidding," I aid. "Come on. Let's get out of this filthy truck."  
We stumbled out of the truck. A heat waved washed over our faces. It was forty-eight degrees easy.  
We passed many buildings on our long, endless, heat-filled journey. Pyramids, a pirate ship and the statue of liberty- it wasn't as good as the real one- it was just a smaller copy, Monte Carlo and the MGM, we passed all of them.  
I wasn't too sure what we were looking for but I really wanted to rest after walking for many exhausting, never-ending hours. I was desperate to get out of the suffering heat, cool down and consider a new plan to travel west. We must've taken a wrong turn because we were now facing a dead end, standing in front of the Lotus Hotel and Casino. The entrance was a gigantic neon flower- a lotus flower to be exact-, the petals lighting up and flashing. No one was going in or out, but the glittering chrome doors were fully open, spilling out air conditioning that smelled like flowers- lotus blossom, most likely.  
The doorman smiled at us. "Hey, kids. You look tired. You want to come in and sit down?"  
I'd learnt to be cautious over every little thing, the last week or so. Anybody could be a monster or a god or just an ordinary mortal. You just couldn't tell, until it sprouted it at you like water out of a hose pipe. Bu this guy seemed normal. I still wasn't convinced though. But Percy insisted that we go in and have a rest in the shade.  
When we stepped inside, the place was amazing!  
"Whoa." said Grover. I was speechless, and by the looks of it, so was Percy.  
The whole lobby was a huge game room. I'm not talking about cheesy old Pac-man games or slot machines. There was an indoor water slide winding around the glossy, glass elevator, which went straight up at least forty floors. There were virtual-reality suits with working laser guns. There was a climbing wall on the side of one building, and an indoor bungee-jumping bridge. And hundreds of video games, each the size of a widescreen plasma TV. On the whole, you name it, this place had it. There were a few other kids playing, but not a lot, which surprised me. No waiting for any of the games. There were waitresses and snack bars all around- you would never go hungry, serving every kind of food you can imagine.  
And believe me, I'm good at imagining.  
"Hey!" A voice shouted from behind me. I spun round. It was a bellhop, or he looked one anyhow. He wore a white-and-yellow Hawaiian shirt with lotus designs, shorts and flip-flops. "Welcome to Lotus Casino. Here's your room key."  
"Percy stammered, "Um, but…"  
"No, no," He said, laughing. "The bill's taken care of. No extra charges, no tips. Just go up to the top floor, room 4001." Wow! How many rooms did this place have? "If you need anything, like extra bubbles for the hot tub, or skeet targets for the shooting range, or whatever, just call the front desk. Here are your LotusCash cards. They work in restaurants and on all the games and ride." He sounded like he had said this a lot of times, before.  
He handed us each a green plastic credit cards.  
That was a bit weird, getting money for free, without asking or anything.  
Despite this fact, Percy said, "How much is on here?"  
The man's eyebrows knitted together. "What do you mean?" Was this guy stupider than Percy?  
"I mean, when does it run out of cash?"  
He laughed. "Oh, you're making a joke. Hey, that's cool. Enjoy your stay."  
We took the elevator upstairs (I couldn't be bothered walking up the stairs) and checked out our room. It was a suite with three individual bedrooms and a saloon stocked with every different kind of candy, soda and crisps. A hotline to room service. Feathery towels and waterbeds with quill pillows. A big plasma screen television with satellite and high-speed internet. The balcony had its own hot tub and, as he the bellhop promised, there was a skeet-shooting appliance and shotgun, so you could commence clay pigeons right out over Las Vegas skyline and cork them with your handgun. I didn't see how that could be legal, but I thought it was really awesome. The view over the Strip and the hot desert was amazing, though I doubted we'd ever have time to look at the view with a room like this.  
"Oh, goodness," I said in awe. "This place is…"  
"Sweet," Grover finished my sentence. "Absolutely sweet."  
I looked into the closet in my assigned bedroom and, sure enough, there were clothes in there. They fitted me perfectly, which I thought was a little weird. _Who cares? At least there clean!_  
I took a refreshing shower; it felt good after being all grimy and dirty for a week's travelling. I changed into the fresh new clothes that were in the closet. I ate two packets of crisps and one can of cherry coke and came out feeling much better than I had in a long time. I kept having the feeling that we shouldn't be here, but I walled the matter at the back of my mind.  
I came out of the bedroom and found Grover and Percy, showered with new clothes on.  
I sat on the couch and switched the TV on to the National Geographic Channel, while Grover ate crisps to his hearts content.  
"All those stations," Percy told me. "and you turn on National Geographic. Are you insane?"  
"It's interesting." Was my simple explanation.  
"I feel good," Grover stated. "I love this place."  
Without even noticing it, Grover's shoes sprouted the wings and lifted him a foot into the air and back down again.  
"So what now?" I asked. "Sleep?"  
Percy and Grover looked at each other and grinned. They both held up their plastic green LotusCash cards.  
"Play time." Percy said. _Boys. _

**(A/N: I am going to change the Lotus Casino part to the film, because the film is more interesting than the book at this point- I'm only doing it for the Lotus Casino though)**_  
_We raced down the stairs (the elevator was occupied) as fast as we could. I won, of course. Percy came second (only because he fell down most of the way). Grover came last- he would've beaten Percy, though.  
Three waitresses- holding a full tray each of lotus flower biscuits-were stood at the bottom of he stairs; they blocked our path as soon as we took one step forward.  
"Can I get you something?" Waitress one said. "Try a lotus flower."  
"They're _so_ good." Waitress two said.  
"It's our signature dish!" Waitress three said.  
"Oh!" Grover exclaimed. "It's signature. Is it good?"  
I looked at Percy, not sure whether to try one. He nodded at me. We all picked one each.  
"Thank you," Percy said as they walked off, smiling at each other.  
"Hey! Do we have to pay for this?" Grover shouted at their turned backs.  
"Guess we don't." I said. "It's free."  
I slowly took a bite out of it. Percy and Grover followed my example. It was the most delicious thing I'd ever tasted! It was all my favourite sweets mixed together!  
"It's really good!" Percy said.  
"Wow! It's the most delicious thing I've ever consumed!" Grover said.  
"Yeah!" I agreed.  
Gradually, I started to notice hat everything around me had a slight tinge of illumines glow to it. These biscuits had a awesome effect on everything.  
We all started laughing at the unusual effect it was having on us.  
"Wow," I said. "Guys, why don't we stay here for a while?"  
"That sounds like an amazing idea!" Percy agreed.  
"Bla-haa-haa." Grover bleated.  
"But we're on a time sensitive mission right now," Percy started to say. "Aren't we-"  
"I can't remember." Grover interrupted.  
"I totally forgot what I was going to say."  
"I think I've figured it out." I said. "I think we're here to…have fun!"  
"Okay!" Percy shouted, spreading his arms wide. "Let's stay here for ages!"  
I couldn't remember the most recent time I'd had so much fun. I came from a camp with no money of my own. My idea of fun was sitting on the beach watching the waves slowly wash up on the shore then gracefully slide back again, I watched that happen again and again and again until the sea and sun became one.  
I dashed to the nearest game board I could find, Percy followed. Grover disappeared into a group of giggling girls about two years older than him. Percy and I played on this gambling thing that I didn't know the name of, for a few minutes, with a couple of other random people in the casino. A few minutes later, a Waitress came up to us again and shoved Lotus flower biscuits in our faces. We all took one, gladly eating the scrumptious food.  
We switched from game to game to game.  
I found Grover having his hooves painted shiny scarlet, by giggly girls with short dresses. I played on trivia Games until Percy came up to me and dragged me to the dance floor and pointed at Grover. He was in the middle of the stage dancing to his hearts content- with no fake pants on. We watched from the bar and drank more coke then I had ever had before. We were all laughing and dancing to the music 'Poker Face' by Lady Ga Ga. Until, a while later, another Waitress came and gave us more flower biscuits. I ate mine as soon as I took it off the plate. Percy stopped and waved at a guy who walked past.  
The guy said, "Groovy, man. Groovy."  
Percy frowned, looked at his biscuit and laid it on the counter of the bar, then said. "I think I'll go get some air. I'll be right back." I picked it up and held it in my hand while I went to find some one to dance with.

***A Few Hours Later***

I was dancing with a girl called Elizabeth when Percy grabbed my arm and towed me over to a corner. He took one look at the biscuit in my hand and grabbed and threw it on the floor saying, "You don't want."  
"What?"  
"We have to go now." Percy said.  
"Bu we've only just got here!" I protested.  
He kept on dragging me around the Casino until he stopped in front of Grover-who was sat in an armchair with a swarm of girls surrounding him, giggling.  
"Grover! Grover!" Percy shouted. "Wake up!"  
"What? Look, Perce. Your timing is terrible, okay? Dude we're heading to the chapel. We're getting married!"  
"Awww. How romantic." I cooed.  
"Nooo, no, no." Percy said.  
"Wait, which one of you do I propose to?" Grover asked the girls. All of theirs hands shot up at once.  
Percy grabbed a jug of water of a nearby table and splashed in the face.  
Grover and the girls gasped.  
"WAKE U!" Percy shouted waving his hands in front of Grover's face.  
"Yo, man." Grover said. "You're such a buzz kill."  
"Percy what's wrong with you?" I asked. "Why're you doing this?"  
"Look, You need to wake up! Now, look at me! Your in a trance, okay? We're trapped! Listen to me! You eat the flowers- you're never going to want to leave. Okay!" Oh, no! I suddenly understood what mess age he was trying to get across. We'd be stuck here forever!  
"Oh!" Grover and I gasped.  
Percy started dragging us to the doors. When we reached them, the bellhop guy said, "Well, now, are you ready for your platinum cards?"  
"We're leaving," Percy told him.  
"Oh, such a shame." He said. "We just added an entire new floor full of games for platinum-card members."  
He held out the cards, offering them to us.  
I saw Grover reach out for one of the cards so I yanked it back and said, "No thanks."  
As we walked out the door, the smell of food seemed to get more and more inviting. We ran down the side walk. It felt like the afternoon, bout the same time of day we'd got into the casino. But the weather had completely changed. It was stormy with heat lightening flashing around the desert. Percy ran to the nearest newspaper stand and came back telling us- with a look of distraught on his face- it was the twenty-first of June.  
We had been in the Lotus Casino for five days.  
We had only one day left until the summer solstice. One day to complete our quest. 


	11. Stretched In Bed

**(A/N: Thank you for all the re-views! They are really appreciated; they boost my confidence in writing the chapters. ****)**

It was one of my famous, brilliant plans that I made on this quest (Sarcastic).  
I filed us into the back of a cab, as if we actually had money. My plan was to tell him to drive us to our destination, and when we got there we'd jump out the cap and run of without paying the man. "Los Angeles, please,"  
The driver chewed his cigar and sized us up. "That's three hundred miles. For that, you gotta pay up front." _Great._  
"You accept casino debit cards?" I questioned.  
He shrugged. "Some of 'em. Same as credit cards. I gotta swipe 'em first, though."  
I passed him my green LotusCash card.  
He looked at it suspiciously.  
"Swipe it," I invited. _Please work.  
_He swiped it.  
His meter machine started rattling. The lights flashed. Finally, an infinity symbol came up next to the dollar sign.  
The cigar fell out of the driver's mouth. He looked back at us, eyes wide and his mouth open slightly. "Where to in Los Angeles… uh, Your Highness?"  
"The Santa Monica pier." I liked the 'Your Highness' thing. I sat up a little straighter. This guy would drive us anywhere now. "Get us there fast, and you can keep the change."  
Maybe I shouldn't have told him that.  
He stepped on the gas pedal; we were slammed back into our seats. I scrambled off of Percy hurriedly and fastened my self into my seat, blushing slightly. The cab's speed meter never dipped below ninety-five the whole way through the Mojave Desert.

On the way to our destination, we had loads of time to talk. Percy filled me and Grover in about his most recent dream, though he couldn't remember what the servant's voice sounded like, but it was definitely someone he knew. The servant had called the monster in the pit a special name or title…something other than 'my lord'.  
"The Silent One?" I suggested. "The Rich One? Both of those are nicknames for Hades."  
"Maybe…" Though he didn't sound so sure.  
"That throne room sounds like Hades's" Grover said. "That's the way it's usually described."  
Percy shook his head. "Something's wrong. The throne room wasn't the main part of the dream. And that voice from the pit…I don't know. It just didn't feel like a god's voice."

What could the inexplicable pit mean? The only pit in the Underworld was the Tartarus crater. But no … it can't be, Kronos was sliced to millions of pieces and the other titans were performing their punishments. There was no way he could remerge….could he?  
The expression on my face must've given my thoughts away because Percy asked, "What?"  
"Oh…nothing. I was just- no, it _has_ to be Hades. Maybe he sent this thief, this invisible person, to get the master bolt, and something went wrong-"  
"Like what?"  
"I- I don't know." I said, "But if he stole Zeus's symbol of power from Olympus, and the gods were hunting him, I mean, a lot of things could go wrong. So this thief had to hide the bolt, or he lost it somehow. Anyway, he failed to bring it to Hades. That's what the voice said in your dream, right? The guy failed. That would explain what the Furies were searching for when they came after us on the bus. Maybe they thought we had retrieved the bolt."

I tried to get the thought of Kronos re-forming, out of my head.  
"But if I'd already retrieved the bolt," Percy said, "Why would I be travelling to the Underworld?"  
"To threaten Hades," Grover suggested. "To bribe or blackmail him into getting your mom back."  
Percy whistled. "You have evil thoughts for a goat."  
"Why, thank you."  
"But the thing in the pit said it was waiting for _two_ items," Percy said. "If the master bolt is one, what's the other?"  
Grover shook his head, unmistakably perplexed.  
I wordlessly wished we wouldn't ask me for my opinion on what was inside the pit.  
I was unfortunate. "You have an idea what might be in the pit, don't you?" Percy asked me." I mean, if it isn't Hades?"  
"Percy…lets not talk about it. Because if it isn't Hades…No. it has to be Hades."  
Harsh environment flew by. We passed a sign that said: CALAFORNIA STATE LINE, 12 MILES.  
It _has_ to be Hades. I mean, if it wasn't, we were all ready whizzing towards the Underworld at ninety-five miles per hour, assuming that Hades had the Master Bolt. If we got there and comprehend that we were wrong, we wouldn't have time to figure out a plan to get the bolt. Tomorrow, war would erupt all over the land like burning lava explodes out of a volcano cone. Anyways, Percy told us he saw spirits of the dead…  
"The answer is in the Underworld," I assured Percy. "You saw spirits of the dead, Percy. There's only one place that could be. We're doing the right thing."  
I was sure of it.  
I was certain.  
Positive?  
Maybe not.  
I tried to increase their confidence by suggesting intelligent strategies for getting into the Land of the Dead. Percy attempted at a smile, but it ended up as a frown again. Grover looked at me with sympathetic eyes.  
The cab sped west. Every squall of blustery weather through Death Valley sounded like a scream of a dying person. Every time the brakes hissed on an eighteen-wheeler, it sounded eerie.

At sunset, the taxi dropped us at the beach in Santa Monica. It looked exactly like the way L.A. beaches do in the movies, but smelled a large amount worse. There were carnival rides lining the pier, palm trees lining the sidewalks, homeless guys sleeping in the sand dunes and surfer dudes waiting for the faultless wave.  
Grover, Percy and I walked down to the perimeter of the surf.  
"What now?" I asked.  
The pacific was turning into a rippling golden quilt, in the setting sun. After a few seconds of serious thinking, and waiting, Percy stepped into the sea.  
"Percy?" I said. "What are you doing?"  
He kept on walking, u to his waist, up to his chest.  
What the heck was he doing? That water got all sorts of litter, rubbish and chemical in it.  
I called after him, "You know how polluted that water is? There're all kinds of toxic-" His head went under. "potions mixed within the water!"  
I sighed. _What an idiot_. _Walking into a polluted sea.  
_"He'll be fine," Grover assured me.  
"I wasn't worrying about him."  
Grover rolled his eyes. I ignored him. We waited for him patiently, while sat on the dirty sand.  
Half an hour later, Percy emerged from the sea, perfectly dry- not a single drop of water was on his clothes. When he reached us, he sat down and told us about his encounter with the water spirit again. He showed us the three glistening white pearls.  
I grimaced. "No gift comes without a price."  
"They were free."  
"No," I shook my head. "'There is no such thing as free lunch' that's an ancient Greek saying that translated pretty well into American. There will be a price. You wait."  
On that happy thought, we turned our backs on the sea.

With some spare change from Ares's backpack, we took the bus into West Hollywood. Percy showed the driver the Underworld address slip He'd taken from Medusa's lair, but he'd never heard of DOA Recording Studios.  
"You remind me of somebody I saw on TV," He told Percy. _Oh great._ "You a child actor or something?"  
"Uh…I'm a stunt double…for a lot of child actors."  
"Oh! That explains it."  
We thanked him and got of hurriedly at the next stop.  
We meandered for miles on foot, searching for DOA. No one seemed to know where it was. It didn't become visible in the phone book.  
Twice, we ducked into alleyways to avoid cop cars.  
As we were walking, Percy suddenly froze, in front of an appliance store window. A television was playing an interview with a very fat middle-aged man. He was talking to Barbara Walters. She was interviewing him in an accommodation, in the middle of a poker game, and there was a young blonde lady sitting next to him, patting his hand comfortingly.  
A tear glistened on his cheek. He was saying, "Honest, Ms Walters, if it wasn't for Sugar here, my grief counsellor, I'd be a wreck. My step-son took everything I cared about. My wife… my Camaro," I'm guessing this guy is Percy's step-dad- you could tell that Percy hated him by the look on his face. "…I-I'm sorry, I have trouble talking about it."  
"There you have it, America." Barbara Walters turned to the camera. "A man torn apart. An adolescent boy with serious issues. Let me show you, again, the last known photo of this troubled young fugitive, taken a week ago in Denver."  
The screen cut to a grainy shot of Percy, Grover and me standing outside the Colorado diner, talking to Ares.  
"Who are the other children in this photo?" Barbara asked dramatically. "Who is the man with them? Is Percy Jackson a delinquent, a terrorist, or perhaps the brain washed victim of a frightened new cult? When we come back, we chat with a leading child psychologist. Stay tuned, America."  
Percy raised his fist at the store, ready to punch. Grover grabbed his arm and hauled him away from the appliance store. "C'mon," Grover told him.  
The sky turned darker and darker until it was a deep blue blanket. Hungry characters started coming out into the streets to play. I have fought monsters and stuff, but these creepy streets were starting to freak me out. But I was a child of Athena; I was wise enough not to wander into a mob of people. I child was safe as long as they're not stupid.  
L.A. was spread out, chaotic, hard to move around. It reminded me of Ares. It wasn't enough to be big; it had too prove it was big by being loud and strange and difficult to navigate, too- a bit like a labyrinth. I didn't have a clue how we were supposed to find the entrance to the Underworld by tomorrow, the summer solstice.  
We walked past gangbangers, bums and street hawkers, who looked at us like they were trying to figure if we were worth the trouble mugging. I gave all the gangs who stared at us my best 'death' glare. See, I have a lot of glares: there's the 'You are so stupid' glare, the 'Shut up!' glare…many more, it would take too long to say them all.  
As we hurried passed the entrance of an alley, a voice from the darkness stopped.  
Like an idiot, Seaweed Brain stopped.  
Before we knew it, we were surrounded. A gang of kids had circled us. Six of them in all- white kids with expensive clothes and brutal faces.  
Stupidly, Percy uncapped riptide.  
When the sword appeared out of nowhere, the kids backed off, but their leader was either out of his head completely or unexplainably courageous, because he kept on advancing at Percy with a switchblade.  
Percy made the mistake of swinging.  
The kid yelped. But he must've been one-hundred percent mortal, because the blade passed harmlessly right through his chest. He looked down, completely bewildered. "What the…"  
"Run!" Percy screamed at Grover and I.  
We pushed two stunned kids out the way and raced down the street, having no thoughts on where we were going. We turned a sharp corner. I spotted the only building that was open, its windows shining with neon lights. The sign said something like: CUSYRT AWERTEDB ALPACE.  
"Crusty's Waterbed Palace?" Grover translated.  
It wasn't a place I would choose to shop in, but we had crazy lunatics on our tails.  
We barged through the doors, ran behind a waterbed, and ducked. A millisecond later, the gang of kids ran past outside.  
"I think we lost them," Grover panted.  
"A deep voice behind us boomed, "Lost who?"  
We all jumped.  
Standing behind us was a guy who looked like a raptor in a leisure suit. He was at least to metres tall, with a bald head. He had grey leathery skin, thick-lidded eyes, and a cold reptilian smile. He moved towards us slowly, but I got the feeling he could move fast if he wanted too.  
His suit might have come from the Lotus Casino, they looked very similar. It belonged back in the seventies big time. The shirt was silk paisley, unbuttoned halfway down his hairless chest. The lapels on his velvet jacket were as wide as landing strips. There were about nine silver chains around his neck.  
"I'm Crusty," He said, with a tar-tar yellow smile.  
_His name suits his face, _I thought.  
"Sorry to barge in," Percy told him. "We were just, um, browsing."  
"You mean hiding from those no-good kids," He grumbled. "They hang around here every night. I get a lot of people in here, thanks to them. Say, you want to look at a waterbed?"  
I was about to say, _No thanks, we're in a rush. _But he put a huge hand on Percy's shoulder and steered him into the show room. We couldn't leave him, so Grover and I followed.  
There was every variety of beds you could imagine. Different kinds of woods, different patterns of sheets, queen-size, king-size, emperor-of-the-universe- size.  
"This is my most popular model." Crusty spread his arms proudly over a bed covered with black satin sheets, with built in lava lamps on the headboard. The mattress vibrated, so it looked like oil-flavoured jelly.  
"Million-hand massage," Crusty told us. "Go on, try it out. Shoot, take a nap. I don't care. No business today, anyway."  
"Um," Percy said. "I don't think..."  
"Million-hand massage!" Grover cried, and dived in. "Oh, you guys! This is so cool!" I wanted to try it out, but I didn't trust this Crusty. I didn't trust anyone until I knew them.  
"Hmm," Crusty said, stroking his leathery chin. "Almost, almost."  
"Almost what?" Percy asked.  
Crusty looked at me. "Do me a favour and try this one over here, honey. Might fit."  
I said. "But what-"  
He patted my shoulder reassuringly, and led me over to the Safari Deluxe model with teakwood lions carved into the frame and a leopard-patterned bedspread. When I didn't want to lie down, because we were already on a tight schedule, Crusty pushed me harshly onto the bed.  
"Hey!" I protested. What has gotten into this guys mind?  
Crust snapped his fingers. "_Ergo!_"  
Ropes sprang from the sides of the bed, lashing around me, tying me to the mattress.  
I saw Grover struggling with the ropes, that were holding him to the bed.  
"Not cool!" He yelled, his voice vibrating from the million-hand massage. "Not cool at all!"  
The ropes were getting tighter and tighter. I struggled against the ropes with all my strength; but I was already tired from travelling all day.  
Crusty looked at me, then turned to Percy. I tried to tell Percy to move, but the ropes were taking my energy. "Almost, darn it," I heard Crusty say. He reached out and firmly grabbed the back of Percy's neck. "Who, kid. Don't worry. We'll find you one in a sec."  
"Let my friends o."  
"Oh, sure I will. But I got to make them fit, first."  
"What do you mean?"  
"All the beds are exactly six feet, see? Your friends are too short. Got to make them fit."  
We kept on struggling.  
"Can't stand imperfect measurements," Crusty muttered. "_Ergo!"_  
A new set of rope sprouted from the top and bottom of the beds, wrapping around our ankles, then around our armpits.  
The ropes tightened, pulling us from both side of the bed. I felt the pain as soon as it started. The pain was excruciating. I felt like screaming.  
"Don't worry," Crusty said. _Don't worry? I was being stretched like chewing gum!_ "These are stretching jobs," I figured. "Maybe eight extra centimetres on their spines. They might even live. Now why don't we find a bed you like, huh?"  
"Percy!" Grover yelled.  
"Your real name's not Crusty, is it?" Percy asked.  
"Legally, it's Procrustes," He admitted.  
"The Stretcher," Percy said. Well, no!, I thought sarcastically. I remembered the story of the giant man who had tried to kill Theseus with over-hospitality on his way to Athens.  
"Yeah," Procrustes said. "But who can pronounce 'Procrustes'? Bad for Business. Now 'Crusty', anybody can say that."  
"You're right. It's got a good ring to it."  
"You think so?" Could he quit the talk now and, HELP US?  
"Oh, absolutely," Percy said. "And the workmanship on these beds? Fabulous!"  
"I tell my customers that. Every time. Nobody bothers to look at the workmanship. How many built in lava lamp headboards have you seen?"  
"Not too many."  
"That's right!"  
I couldn't stand it, we were being stretched, while he was having a nice little chat about the way beds are made. "Percy!" I yelled. "What are you doing?"  
"Don't mind her," Percy told Procrustes. "She's impossible." _He's_ insufferable!  
The giant laughed. "All my customer are. Never six feet exactly. So inconsiderate. And then they complain about the fitting." The pain was increasing painfully.  
"What do you do if they are longer than six feet?"  
"Oh, that happens all the time. It's a simple fix." There was a noise of a couple of footsteps and then a sound like metal on wood. Procrustes said, "I just centre. The subject as best as I can and lop off whatever hangs over on either end."  
"Ah," Percy said. "Sensible." Was he crazy?  
"I'm so glad I come across an intelligent customer!"  
The pain felt like a Chinese burn (skin twisted the way it wasn't supposed to go) but hundreds times worse. I felt like I was going to vomit from the horrible feeling.  
"So, Crusty..." Percy said. "Does this one really have dynamic stabilizers to stop wave motion?"  
"Absolutely. Try it out."  
"Yeah, maybe I will. But would it even work for a big guy like you? No waves at all?"  
"Guaranteed."  
"No way." Did he not care about his friends being stretched to death?  
"Way."  
"Show me."  
I heard a sound of a heavy object on top of a bouncy surface. And two pats on material. "No waves. See?"  
I heard a snap of someone's fingers and Percy voice say, "Ergo."  
"Hey!" He yelled. Was he mimicking me?  
"Centre him just right," Percy said.  
"No!" Procrustes said. "Wait! This is just a demo."  
"A few simple adjustments..."  
After a few moments Crusty said, "You drive a hard bargain. I'll give you thirty percent off on selected floor models!"  
"I think I'll start with the top."  
"No money down! No interest for six months!" Hello? We are still here, Percy!  
Percy sliced the ropes on our beds. We got to our feet, groaning and wincing and cursing Percy a lot.  
"You look taller," Percy observed.  
"Very funny," I said. "Be faster next time."  
I was massaging my sore limbs when Percy said, "Come on."  
"Give us a minute," Grover complained. "We were almost stretched to death!"  
"Then you're ready for the Underworld," Percy said. "It's only a block from here." 


	12. Very Depressing

12.

We stood in the shadows of Valencia Boulevard, looking up at dull gold letters imprinted in black marble: DOA RECORDING STUDIOS.  
Underneath, stencilled on the glass doors: NO SOLICITORS. NO LOITERING. NO LIVING.  
It was almost midnight, but the lobby was fiercely lit and chock-full of people. Behind the security desk sat a rough-looking guard with shades and an earpiece.  
Percy turned to us. "Okay. Yu remember the plan."  
"The plan," Grover gulped. "Yeah. I love the plan."  
A pessimistic thought entered my mind… "What happens if the plan doesn't work?"  
"Don't think negative."  
"Right," I said. "We're entering the Land of the Dead, and I shouldn't think negative."  
Percy looked at the pearls dejectedly. I was dampening his spirit and courage of the possibility of getting out of the Underworld alive.  
I put a hand on Percy's shoulder, reassuringly. "I'm sorry, Percy. You're right, we'll make it. It'll be fine."  
I gave Grover a nudge.  
"Oh, right!" He chimed in. "We got this far. We'll find the master bolt and save your mom. No problem."  
He looked at us both again, with a mixture of feelings showing in his eyes; the main one I could figure out was: grateful.  
He slipped the pearls back into his pocket. "Let's whup some Underworld butt."  
We walked inside the DOA lobby.  
Muzak played softly through invisible speakers. The carpet and walls were a depressing, steel grey. Pencil cactuses grew in the corners like skeleton hands. The furniture was gloomy, black leather, and every seat was occupied. There were people lounging on couches, people standing up, people stared dismissively out of the window or waiting for the elevator. Nobody stirred; nobody conversed, or did much of anything. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see them perfectly, but if I focused on one in particular, they started appearing… transparent. I could see right through their bodies.  
The security guards desk was a raised pedestal, so we had to look up to see him.  
He was tall and well-dressed, with chocolate-coloured skin and bleached blonde hair shaved military style. He wore tortoiseshell sunglasses and a silk Italian suit that matched his hair. A lack rose was pinned to his lapel under a silver name tag.  
I read the name tag, and it said… Chiron?  
Percy asked the question that was in mind, "You name is Chiron?"  
He leaned over the reception desk. I couldn't see anything in his glasses except my own reflection, his smile was sweet and cold, like a python's, right before it gobbles you.  
"What a precious young lad." He had a outlandish tone of voice- British, perhaps, but also as if he had been educated English as a second verbal communication. "Tell me, mate, do I look like a centaur?"  
"N-no." Percy stammered.  
"Sir," He added smoothly.  
"Sir," Percy said.  
he pinched his name tag and ran his fingers under the letters. "Can you read this, mate? It says C-H-_A_-R-O-N. Say it with me: CARE-ON."  
"Charon."  
"Amazing! Now _Mr_. Charon."  
"Mr Charon." Percy said.  
"Well done." He sat back in his chair. "I _hate_ being confused with that old horse-man. And now, how may I help you little dead ones?"  
Percy looked at me shooting the question: _Err…..What do we want? _To me.  
"We want to go to the Underworld," I said. Simple.  
Charon's mouth twitched. "Well, that's refreshing."  
"Is it?" I said.  
"Straightforward and honest. No screaming. No 'There must be a mistake, Mr Charon'." He looked us over. "How did you die, then?"  
Percy nudged Grover.  
"Oh," He said. "Um…drowned…in the bathtub."  
"All three of you?" Charon asked.  
We nodded.  
"Big bath tub." Charon looked mildly impressed. "I don't suppose you have coins for passage. Normally, with adults, you see, I could charge your American Express, or add the ferry price to your last cable bill. But with children… alas, you never die prepared. Suppose you have to take a seat for a few centuries."  
"Oh, but we have coins." Percy set three golden Drachmas on the counter, part of the stash He'd found in Crusty's office desk."  
"Well, now…" Charon moistened his lips. "Real Drachmas. Real golden Drachmas. I haven't seen these in…"  
His fingers hovered greedily over the coins.  
We were so close.  
Then Charon looked at Percy. He stared at him suspiciously. "Here now,"  
He said. "You couldn't read my name correctly. Are you dyslexic, lad?" Busted.  
"No," Percy said. "I'm dead."  
Charon leaned forward and took a sniff. "You're not dead. I should've known. You're a godling."  
"We have to get to the Underworld." Percy insisted.  
Charon made a deep growling sound in his throat.  
Instantly, all the people in the waiting room stood up and started pacing, restless, lighting cigarettes, running their hands through their hair, or inspecting their wristwatches.  
"Leave while you can," Charon told us. "I'll just take these and forget I saw you."  
He started going for the coins, but Percy snatched them out of his reach.  
"No service, no tip." His voice was slightly trembling.  
Charon growled again- a unfathomable, blood-chilling sound. The spirits of the dead started pounding on the elevator doors.  
"It's a shame too," Percy sighed. "We had more to offer."  
He held up our entire bag of Drachmas. Percy took out a fist full of coins and let them spill through his fingers like sand, back into the bag.  
Charon's growl changed into something that sounded somewhat like a lion's purr. "Do you think I can be bought, godling? Eh… just out of curiosity, how much have you got there?"  
"A lot," Percy said. "I bet Hades doesn't pay you well enough for such hard work."  
"Oh, you don't know the half of it. How would you like to babysit these spirits all day? Always 'Please don't let me be dead' or 'Please let me across for free'. I haven't had a pay rise in three thousand years. Do you imagine suits like these come cheap?"  
"You deserve better," Percy agreed. "A little appreciation. Respect. Good pay."  
With each word, Percy stacked another gold coin on the counter, creating a tall, lean tower of Drachmas.  
Charon glanced down at his Italian suit, as if imaging himself in something better. "I must say, lad, you're making some sense now. Just a little."  
He stacked another few coins. "I could mention a pay rise while I'm talking to Hades."  
He sighed. "The boats almost full, anyway. I might as well add you three and be off."  
He stood, scooped up the money, and said. "Come along."  
We pushed through the crowd of waiting spirits, who started seizing at or clothes like the airstream, their voices murmuring things I couldn't understand. Charon thrusting them out of the way, grumbled, "Freeloaders."  
He guided us into the elevator, which was already crowded with souls of the dead, each one holding a green boarding pass. Charon grabbed two spirits who were trying to get on with us and pushed them back into the entrance hall.  
"Right. Now, no one get any ideas while I'm gone." He announced to he waiting room. "And f anyone moves the dial off my easy-listening station again, I'll make sure you're here for another thousand years. Understand?" That's harsh.  
He slammed the doors shut. He put a key card into the slot in the elevator panel and we started to descend.  
"What happens to the spirits waiting in the lobby?" I asked.  
"Nothing," Charon said.  
"For how long?"  
"Forever, or until I'm feeling generous." I am not looking forward to death (Not that I was anyways!)  
"Oh," I didn't want to get on this guys bad side. "That's … fair."  
Charon raised an eyebrow. "Whoever said death was fair, young miss? Wait until it's your turn. You'll die soon enough, where you're going."  
"We'll get out alive," Percy said. _I hope._  
"Ha."  
I suddenly got a dizzy feeling. We weren't going down any longer, but forward. The air turned hazy. Spirits around my started to change shape; their modern clothes flashed, turning into grey hooded robes. The floor of the elevator started swaying.  
This swaying was giving me a nausea feeling. I blinked a couple of times. Charon's creamy Italian suit morphed into a long black robe. His tortoiseshell glasses were gone. Where his eyes should've been, were empty dark sockets, filled with night, death and despair.  
He turned to Percy and said, "Well?"  
"Nothing." Percy replied.  
Charon was getting bloodcurdling by every second, his flesh of his face was becoming transparent, allowing me too see right through too his skull.  
The floor kept swaying.  
Grover said, "I think I'm getting seasick."  
I realized that the elevator wasn't an elevator anymore, it was a wooden barge. Charon was poling us across a dark, oily, river, swirling with bones, dead fish and other, odd things- plastic dolls, compressed carnations, waterlogged diplomas with gilt edges. All happy memories and wishes that never came true. There was only one river that was filled with them kind of things…"The River Styx," I murmured. "It's so…"  
"Polluted," Charon said. "For thousands of years, you humans have been throwing in everything as you come across- hopes, dreams, wishes that never came true. Irresponsible waste management, if you ask me."  
Mist coiled off the grimy water. Above us, mislaid in the obscurity, was a ceiling of stalactites. Ahead, the far shore shimmered with greenish light, the colour of poison.  
Dread flooded my mind. What was I doing here? These people all around me… they were lifeless.  
I grabbed hold of Percy's hand. Under normal circumstances, I would be blushing out of embarrassment, but I wanted to be reassured that somebody else on this boat was alive. Percy didn't seem to mind, he looked really pale, and gripped my hand back, tightly.  
After a few moments, the shore of the Underworld came into view. Rough rocks and blank volcano sand stretched inland about fifty metres to the base of high stone wall, which spread off in either direction as far as the eye could see. A sound came from somewhere close by in the green darkness, echoing off the stones- the howl of a great animal.  
"Old Three-Face is hungry," Charon said. His smile turned skeletal in the greenish light. "Bad look for you, godlings."  
The bottom of our boat slid onto the black sand. The dead began to disembark. Adults holding youngster's hands.  
Charon said, "I'd wish you luck, mate, but there isn't any down here. Mind you, don't forget to mention my pay rise."  
He counted our golden coins into his pouch, and then took up his pole. He hummed something that sounded like a Barry Manilow song as he ferried the empty barge back across the river.  
We followed the spirits up a well-worn path.

A couple of minutes later, we stood, gazing up at the entrance to the Underworld, which looked like a cross between airport security and the Jersey Turnpike.  
There were three separate entrances under one gigantic black arch-way that said: YOU ARE NOW ENTERING EREBUS. Each entrance had a pass through metal detector mounted with security cameras. Ahead of this were tollbooths run by black-robed phantoms like Charon.  
The howling of the hungry animal was really loud now, but I couldn't figure out where it was coming from. The three-headed dog, Cerberus, who was supposed to safeguard Hades's door, was nowhere in sight.  
The spirits of the dead queued up in the three lines two marked: ATTENDANT ON DUTY, and one marked: EZ DEATH. The EZ DEATH line was moving along, speedily. The other two were going as slow as a snail.  
"What do you figure?" Percy asked me.  
"The fast line must go straight to Asphodel," I said. "No contest. They don't want to risk judgement from the court, because it might go against them."  
"There's a court for dead people?"  
"Yeah. Three judges. They switch around who sits on the bench. King Minos, Thomas Jefferson, Shakespeare – people like that. Sometimes they look at a life and decide that person needs a special reward- the fields of Elysium. Sometimes they decide o a punishment. Bust most people, well, they just lived. Nothing special, good or bad. So they go to the Field of Asphodel."  
"And do what?"  
Grover said, "Imagine standing in a wheat field in Kansas. Forever."  
"Harsh," Percy said.  
"Not as harsh as that," Grover muttered. "Look."  
A couple of black-robed ghouls had pulled aside one spirit and were frisking him at the security desk.  
"He's that preacher who made the news, remember?" Grover asked.  
"Oh, yeah." They didn't have TV at camp so I had no idea who they were talking about. But I had a feeling he did something pretty bad. "What're they doing to him?"  
"Special punishments from Hades," Grover guessed. "The really bad people get his personal attention as soon as they arrive. The Fu- the Kindly Ones will set up an eternal torture for him."  
The thought sent a chill down my spine. This is where they lived. We would be seeing them again soon.  
"But if he's a preacher," Percy said. "and he believes in a different hell…"  
Grover shrugged. "Who says he's seeing this place the way we're seeing it? Humans see what they want to see. They're very stubborn- er, persistent, that way."  
We got closer to the gates. The howling was so loud now it quivered the floor, but I still couldn't figure out where it was coming from.  
Then, about fifteen metres in front of us, the green mist shimmered. Standing just where the path split into lanes was a] mammoth vague monster.  
I hadn't noticed it before because it was half transparent, like the dead. Until it moved, it blended in with whatever was behind it. Only its eyes and teeth looked solid. And it was staring straight at us.  
I was stunned, it looked just like the dog we (meaning my dad and me) used to have at our house- except it had two extra heads.  
The dead walked right up to him- no fear at all. The ATTENDANT ON DUTY lines parted on either side of him. The EZ DEATH spirits walked right in between his front paws and under his belly, which they could do without even crouching.  
"I'm starting to see him better." Percy murmured. I was also starting to see Cerberus clearer. "Why is that?"  
"I think…" I moistened my lips nervously. If the rumours were true..."I'm afraid it is because we are getting closer to being dead."The dog's middle head craned in the direction of us. It sniffed the air and growled.  
"It can smell the living." Percy stated.  
"But that's okay," Grover said, trembling next to us. "Because we have a plan."  
"Right," I tired to keep my self calm. But my voice betrayed me; I sounded like a mouse. "A plan."  
We moved towards the monster.  
The middle head snarled at us, then barked so loud my ears throbbed.  
"Can you understand it?" Percy asked Grover.  
"Oh, yeah," He said. "I can understand it."  
"What's it saying?"  
"I don't think humans have four-letter word that translates, exactly."  
Percy took the big stick out of his backpack- a bed post he'd broken off Crusty's Safari Deluxe florr model. He held it up, and tried to channel happy dog thoughts towards Cerberus- Alpo commercials, cute little puppies, fire hydrants. He attempted at a smile, weakly.  
"Hey, Big Fella," Percy called up. "I bet they don't play with you much."  
"GROWWWLLLL!"  
"Good boy," Percy said feebly.  
He waved the stick. I hoped the plan would work. The dog's middle head followed he movement. The other two heads were fixed completely onto Percy. He had Cerberus's undivided attention. I wasn't sure whether that was a good thing.  
"Fetch!" Percy threw the stick into the gloom, a good solid throw. I heard it go _ker-sploosh _in the River Styx.  
Cerberus glared at Percy, clearly unimpressed. His yes were baleful a cold.  
So much for the plan.  
Cerberus was now making a new kind of growl, deeper down in his three throats.  
"Um," Grover said. "Percy?"  
"Yeah?"  
"I just thought you'd want to know."  
"Yeah?"  
"Cerberus? He's saying we've got ten seconds to pray to the god of our choice. After that…well… He's hungry."  
I suddenly had a brilliant idea. "Wait!" I said. I started searching my back-pack for the red rubber ball that I had packed from the Waterland Park.  
"Five seconds," Grover said. "Do we run now?"  
I produced the ball from my bag, the size of a grape fruit. I raised the ball and marched straight up to Cerberus. I had done dog obedience before for he dog we owned at my dad's.  
I shouted, "See the ball? You want the ball, Cerberus? Sit!"  
Cerberus looked stunned at my courage.  
All three heads cocked sideways. Six nostrils dilated.  
"Sit!" I called again.  
Cerberus licked his three sets of lips, shifted on his haunches, and sat, instantly crushing a dozen spirits who'd been passing underneath him in the EZ DEATH line. The spirits made barely audible hisses as they dissolute, like the air let out of tyres.  
But my concentration was on Cerberus, I said, "Good boy!"  
I threw the ball to Cerberus.  
He caught it in his centre mouth. It was only just big enough for him to chew, and the other heads started snapping at the middle, trying to get their n toy.  
"Drop it!" I ordered.  
Cerberus's heads stopped fighting and looked at me. The ball was trapped between two of his teeth like a tiny piece of gum. He made a loud, scary whimper, then dropped he ball- just as I asked- now slippery and bitten practically in half, at my feet."Good boy." I picked the ball up, ignoring he monster drool all over it. Eww… it was all sticky and slimy.  
I turned towards my friends, "G now. EZ DEATH line – it's faster."  
Percy said, "But-"  
"Now!" I ordered them in the same commanding tone I had used on the dog.  
They inched forward cautiously.  
Cerberus started to growl.  
"Stay!" I ordered the monster. "If you want he ball, stay!"  
Cerberus whimpered, but stayed where he was.  
"What about you?" Percy asked me as he passed me.  
"I know what I'm doing, Percy," I muttered. I had experience from my own dog. "At least, I'm pretty sure…"  
They walked between the monsters legs.  
When they passed through safely, I felt truly alone.  
I said, "Good dog!"  
I held up the tattered ball, even though I wouldn't have another trick to play on the dog afterwards, and threw it at the dog. The monster's left mouth snatched it straight away, only to be attacked by the middle head while the head on the right whined in complaint.  
While the monster was distracted, I walked briskly under it's belly and joined Grover and Percy at the metal detector.  
"How did you do that?" Percy asked me, amazed.  
"Obedience school," I said breathlessly, it brought back happy memories that made me miss my favourite pet. "When I was little, at my dad's house, we had a Dobermann…"  
"Never mind hat…" Grover said, tugging at Percy's shirt. "Come on!"  
We were about to bolt through the EZ DEATH line when Cerberus moaned pitifully from all three mouths, just like my old dog did. I stopped.  
I turned to face the dog, which had done a one-eighty to look at us.  
Cerberus panted expectantly, the tiny red ball in pieces in a puddle of drool at its feet.  
"Good boy," I said, but my voice was melancholy and doubtful. My brain still flooded with memories from the past.  
The monsters head turned sideways, whimpering slightly.  
"I'll bring you another ball soon," I promised faintly. "Would you like that?"  
The dog whimpered.  
"Good dog. I'll visit you soon. I-I promise."  
I turned to my friends. "Let's go."  
Grover and Percy pushed through the metal detector, which immediately began to scream and set off flashing red lights. "Unauthorized possessions! Magic detected!"  
Cerberus began to bark.  
We burst through the EZ DEATH gate which started even more alarms blaring, and raced into the Underworld.  
A few minutes later, we were hiding, out of breath, in the decayed trunk of an colossal black tree as security ghouls scampered past, yelling for backup from the Furies.  
Grover murmured, "Well, Percy, what hev we learned today?"  
"That three-headed dogs prefer red rubber balls over sticks?"  
"No," Grover told him. "We've learned that you're plans really, really bite!"  
I thought me and Percy had the right idea. Even here in the Underworld, everybody- even monsters- needed a little attention once in a while. I listened the mournful keening of Cerberus in the distance, I wiped a tear from me cheek as even miserabler memories flew into my brain.


	13. Willing To Sacrifice

Imagine the loudest football crowd you have ever seen, times that by a million.  
Now imagine the lights switched off, and there is no noise, no light, and no beach ball bouncing around over the crowd. Something catastrophic has happened behind the scenes. Whispering heaps of citizens are just wandering around in the shadows, waiting for the game that will never start.  
That was just what the Fields of Asphodel looked like. The black grass had been trampled on by eras of dead feet. A warm, damp wind blew across the scene, like the air when you open a washing machine. Black trees- Grover had told me they were poplars- grew in clumps here and there.  
The grotto ceiling was so far above the ground, it might've been a cluster of storm clouds, except for the stalactites, which smouldered faint grey and looked illegitimately piercing. I tried to imagine them not diminishing on us, at any moment, but speckled around the fields were a few that had descended and impaled themselves in the black grass. I guess he dead didn't need to worry about little vulnerabilities like being lanced by stalactites the size of immunisation rockets.  
We tried to mingle in with the crowd, keeping an eye out for security ghouls.  
We crept along, following the line of new arrivals that slithered from the main gates en route for a black-tented pavilion with a banner that read:

JUGDEMENTS FOR ELYSIUM AND ETERNAL DAMNATION.  
Welcome, Newly Deceased!

Out of the rear end of the marquee, came two, a large amount lesser lines.  
To the left, spirits flanked by security ghouls were marched down a rocky path to the Fields of Punishment, which flamed and smouldered in the distance, an immeasurable, cracked wasteland with flowing steams of lava, disastrous minefields and miles of barbed wire separating the different areas of torture. Even from a distance, I could see people being burned at the stake, chased by hellhounds, listen to opera music or being forced to run trough cactus patches naked. I could just make out a miniature hill, with the ant-size figure of Sisyphus struggling to move his boulder to the peak. I saw other tortures, too- things I didn't feel like recounting. The line coming from the right side of the marquee was to a large extent better. This one led down towards a small valley surrounded by walls- a grated centre of population, which appeared to be the only joyful element of the Underworld. Beyond the security doors were districts of stunning houses, beautifully designed (I admired the architect-whoever he or she was), from every time period in history, mediaeval fortresses, Victorian manors, and Roman villas. Silver and gold flowers blossomed on the neatly cut lawns. The grass rippled in rainbow colours. I could hear laughter and the smell of a barbeque cooking.  
Elysium.  
In the centre of that valley was a rippling blue lake, lily pads floating on the surface. Three islands sat in the middle, like vacation resorts in the Bahamas. The Isles of the Blest, for people who had chosen to be re-born three times, and three times achieved Elysium. Immediately, I knew that was where I wanted to go when I died.  
"That's what it's all about," I said. "That's the place for heroes."  
I noticed that there were very few people in Elysium, much, much less then in Asphodel or even Punishment. So little people did good in their lives. It was depressing.  
We left the judgment pavilion and moved deeper into Asphodel. It grew darker. The colours faded from our clothes. The crowds of chattering spirits began to thin.  
After few miles of walking, we began to hear a familiar screech in the distance. Looming on the horizon was a palace- Hades' kingdom- made of black obsidian. Higher than the parapets twirled three bat-like creatures: the Furies. I got the sensation they were waiting for us.  
"I suppose it's too late to turn back," Grover said wistfully.  
"We'll be okay," Percy assured us.  
"Maybe we should search some of the other places first," Grover suggested, "Like Elysium for instance…"  
"Come on, Goat-boy," I grabbed his arm. We were not backing out now, we had got this far…  
Grover yelped. His trainers sprouted wings and his legs shot forward, pulling him away from me. He landed flat n his back in the grass.  
"Grover," I chided. "Stop messing around."  
"But I didn't-"  
He yelped again. His shoes were flapping like crazy now. They levitated off the ground and started dragging Grover further away from us.  
"_Maia_!" He yelled, but the enchantment word appeared to have no outcome. "_Maia_, already! 911! Help!"  
I overcame being stunned and made to grab for him, but too late. He was picking up speed, skidding downhill like a bobsled.  
We ran after him.  
I had an idea, "Untie the shoes!"  
It was a great idea, but I guess it's not that easy when your shoes are pulling you along feet-first at full speed. Grover tried to sit up, but he couldn't get close to the laces- gravity was pushing him back down.  
We kept after him, trying to keep him in sight as he zipped between the legs of spirits who chattered at him in aggravation.  
I was sure Grover was going to zoom through Hades' palace gates, but the shoes veered sharply to the right and dragged him in the opposite direction.  
The slope got steeper. Grover picked up speed. Percy and I had to sprint to keep up. The cavern walls narrowed on each side, and I realized we had entered some kind of side tunnel. No black grass or trees now, just rock underfoot, and he dim light if stalactites above.  
"Grover!" Percy yelled, his voice echoing. "Hold on to something!"  
"What?" He yelled back.  
He was grabbing at the gravel, but there was nothing large enough to slow him down.  
The tunnel grew colder and darker. It smelled evil down here, somehow. It made me think of horrific things- like a person with a knife dug into their stomach, the look of terror etched upon their face.  
Then I saw where we were running to- it was the place Percy had described from his dream. Percy seemed to have noticed this too because he stopped dead in his tracks.  
Grover was sliding towards the edge.  
"Come on, Percy!" I yelled, tugging at his wrist.  
"But that's-"  
"I know!" I shouted. "The place you described in your dream! But Grover going to fall if we don't catch him." Percy started moving again.  
He was yelling, clawing at the ground, but the winged shoes kept on dragging him towards the pit, and it didn't look like we could possibly get to him in time.  
What saved him were his hooves.  
The flying sneakers had always been a loose fit on him, and finally Grover hit a huge rock and the left shoe came flying off. It sped into the shadows, down into the abyss.  
The right shoe kept tugging him along, but not as fast. Grover was able to slow himself down by grabbing on to the large rock and using it like an anchor.  
He was three metres from the edge of the hollow when we caught him and heaved him back up the slant. The other winged shoe tugged itself off, circled around us irritably and kicked our heads in objection before flying off into the gorge to join its twin.  
We all collapsed, exhausted, on the obsidian gravel. My limbs felt like lead.  
Grover was scratched up pretty bad. His hands were bleeding. His eyes had gone slit-pupilled, goat-style, the way they did whenever he was terrified.  
"I don't know how…" He panted. "I didn't…"  
"Wait." Percy said. "Listen."  
I waited a few seconds, I couldn't hear anything. "Percy, this place-"  
"Shh." He stood.  
I listened again, concentrating on the sounds around me. That's when I heard it: a deep, evil whisper, increasing bit by bit. It was coming from far, far below us.  
Grover sat up. "Wh-what's that noise?"  
A thought occurred in my mind, and I knew what the pit was. "Tartarus. The entrance to Tartarus."  
Percy uncapped Anaklusmos.  
The bronze sword extended, glinting in the darkness, and the iniquity voice seemed to falter, just for an instant, before resuming its chant.  
"Magic," Percy said.  
"We have to get out of here." I stated the obvious, that nobody seemed to be getting.  
Together, we dragged Grover back up onto his heels and started back up the tunnel. The voice got louder and angrier behind us. We broke into a sprint.  
Not a moment too soon.  
A bitter discharge of wind pulled at our backs, as if the whole crater was inhaling. I kept my feet firmly on the ground and tightened my grip on Grover's arm. If we had been any closer to the pit, we would've been sucked in.  
We kept struggling forward, and finally reached the top of the tunnel. The wind died. A wail of outrage echoed from deep inside the tunnel. Something was not happy we got away.  
"What _was_ that?" Grover panted, when we'd collapsed in the relative safety of a black poplar grove. "One of Hades's pets?"  
I and Percy looked at each other. I remembered the thought that I had had on the taxi ride to L.A. I walled the thought at the back of my mind, instantly. I didn't want to share my thoughts on the pit, so I kept my mouth shut.  
Percy capped his sword and dropped the pen into his pocket. "Let's keep going," Percy looked at Grover. "Can you walk?"  
He swallowed. "Yeah, sure. I never like those shoes, anyway."  
He tried to sound brave about it but he was trembling as defectively as Percy and I were. I didn't want to think about Kronos and the other titans anymore so I was almost relieved to turn my back on the tunnel and head back up the hill, to the palace of Hades.  
Almost.

The Furies were still circling the parapets, when we approached. The outer-walls of the citadel glittered black, and the two storey-high bronze gates stood wide open.  
Up close, I saw the engravings on the gates ere scenes of death- every kind. I wondered if I was looking at event that had come true.  
Inside the courtyard, was the most unusual garden I had ever seen. Multicoloured mushroom, toxic shrubs and peculiar incandescent plants grew without sunlight. Valuable jewels made up for the lack of flowers, heaps of rubies the size of my fist, clusters of rare diamonds. Standing here and there like frozen party guests were Medusa's garden statues, petrified children, satyrs and centaurs, all smiling grotesquely.  
In the centre of the garden was an orchard of pomegranate trees, their orange blooms neon bright in the dark. We were in…" The garden of Persephone," I said. "Keep walking."  
We walked up the steps of the palace, between black columns, through a black marble portico and into the manor of Hades. The entry hall had a polished bronze floor, which seemed to boil in the reflected torchlight. There was no ceiling, just the carven roof, far above. I guess they never had to worry about the rain down here.  
Every side doorway was guarded by a skeleton in military gear. Some wore Greek armour, some British red-coat uniforms, some camouflage with tattered American flags on the shoulders. They carried spears, muskets or M-16s.  
None of them bothered us, but their hollow eye sockets followed us as we walked down the hall, towards the huge set of doors at the opposite end.  
Two U.S. Marine skeletons guarded the doors. They grinned down at us, rocket-propelled grenade launchers held across their chests.  
"You know," Grover mumbled. "I bet Hades doesn't have trouble with door-to-door salesmen."  
"Well, guys," Percy said. "I suppose we should… knock?"  
A hot wind blew down the corridor, and the doors swung open. The guards stepped aside.  
"I guess that means '_entrez_,'" I said.  
Hades was sat in his throne in the middle, of the back of the room.  
I had met three gods- on this trip- but Hades struck me as the most godlike.  
He was at least three metres tall, for one thing, and dressed in black silk robes and a crown of braided gold. His skin was albino white, his hair shoulder-length and jet black. He wasn't bulked up like Ares, but he exuded power. He lazed on his throne of compounded human bones, looking lissom, elegant and perilous as a panther.  
Hades's characteristic was affecting me just like Ares's had. The Lord of the Dead resembled pictures of murders that I had seen on T.V.  
"You are brave to come here, Son of Poseidon," He said in an oily voice. "After what you have done to me, very brave indeed. Or perhaps you a simply very foolish."  
Percy stepped forward. "Lord and Uncle, I come with two requests."  
Hades raised an eyebrow. When he sat forward on his throne, shadowy faces appeared in the creases of his black robes, faces of torment.  
"Only two request?" Hades said. "Arrogant child. As if you have not already taken enough. Speak, then. It amuses me not to strike you dead yet."  
Percy swallowed.  
I waited for Percy to speak, but he seemed to be day-dreaming.  
I cleared my throat. I prodded him in the back.  
"Lord Hades," Percy said. "Look, sir, there can't be a war against the gods. It would be… bad."  
"Really bad," Grover added helpfully.  
"Return Zeus's master bolt to me," Percy said. "Please, sir. Let me carry it to Olympus."  
Hades's eyes grew precariously vivid. "You dare keep up this pretence, after what you have done?"  
Percy glanced back at us. I was confused. What had Percy done to offend Hades?  
"Um…Uncle," Percy turned back to Hades. "You keep saying 'after what I've done'. What exactly have I done?"  
The throne room shook with so much tremor the probably felt it upstairs in Los Angeles. Debris fell from the carven ceiling. Doors burst open along all the walls, and skeleton warriors filed in, hundreds of hem, from every time period and nation in Western civilization. They lined the perimeter of the room, blocking the exits.  
Hades bellowed. "Do you think I _want_ war, godling?"  
"You are the Lord of the Dead," Percy said. "A war would expand your kingdom, right?"  
"A typical thing for my brothers to say! Do you think I need more subjects? Did you not see the sprawl of Asphodel?"  
"Well…"  
"Have you any idea how much my kingdom has swollen in this past century alone, how many subdivisions I've had to open?"  
Percy opened his mouth to speak, but Hades was on a roll now.  
"More security ghouls," Hades moaned. "Traffic problems at the judgement pavilion. Double overtime for the staff. I used to be a rich god, Percy Jackson. I control all the precious metals under the earth. But my expenses!"  
"Charon wants a pay rise," Percy blurted inconveniently.  
"Don't get me started on Charon!" Hades yelled. "He's been impossible since he discovered Italian suits! Problems everywhere, and I've got to handle them all personally. The commute time alone from the palace to the gats is enough to drive me insane! And the dead just keep arriving. _No_, godling. I need no help getting subjects! _I_ did not ask for this war."  
"Bu you took Zeus's master bolt."  
"Lies!" More rumbling. Hades rose from his throne, towering to the height of a football goalpost. "Your father may fool Zeus, boy, but I am not stupid. I see his plan."  
"His plan?"  
"_You_ were the thief on the winter solstice." He said. "Your father thought to keep you his little secret. He directed you onto the throne room in Olympus. You took the master bolt _and_ my helmet. Had I not sent my Fury to discover you a Yancy Academy, Poseidon might have succeeded in hiding his scheme to start a war. But now you have been forced into the open. You will be exposed as Poseidon's thief, and I will have my helmet back!"  
"But…" My mind was going a million miles an hour. "Lord Hades, your helmet of darkness is missing, too?"  
"Do not play innocent with me, girl. You and this satyr have been helping this hero- coming here to threaten me in Poseidon's name, no doubt- to bring me to ultimatum. Does Poseidon think I can be blackmailed into supporting him?"  
"No!" Percy said. "Poseidon didn't- I didn't-"  
"I have said nothing of the helmets disappearance," Hades snarled. "Because I had no illusions that anyone on Olympus would offer me the slightest justice, the slightest help. I can ill afford word to get out that my most powerful weapon of fear is missing. So I searched for you myself, and when it was clear you were coming to me to deliver your threat, I did not try to stop you."  
"You didn't try to stop us? But-"  
"Return my helmet now, r I will stop death," Hades threatened. "That is my counter-proposal. I will open the earth and have the dead pour back into the world. I will make your lands a nightmare. And you, Percy Jackson- _your_ skeleton will lead my army out of Hades."  
The skeletons took one step forward, marking their positions.  
"You're as bad as Zeus," Percy said; the look of pure anger and hatred showed upon his face, clearly fuming badly. "You think I stole from you? That's why you sent the Furies after me?"  
"OF course," Hades said.  
"And the other monsters?"  
Hades curled his lip. "I had nothing to do with them. I wanted no quick death for you- I wanted you brought before me alive so you might face every torture in the Fields of Punishment. Why do you think I let you enter my kingdom so easily?"  
"_Easily_?"  
"Return my property!"  
"But I don't have your helmet. I came for the master bolt."  
"Which you already posess!" Hades bellowed. "You came here with it, little fool, thinking you could threaten my!"  
"But I didn't!"  
"Open your backpack, then."  
He slung it of his shoulder, and I realised that I had been holding a breath in for quite a long time. I gasped when I saw Percy pull out a sixty-centimetre-long metal cylinder, spiked on both ends, humming with energy.  
"Percy," I said. "How-"  
"I-I don't know. I don't understand."  
"You heroes are always the same," Hades said. "Your pride makes you foolish, thinking you could bring such a weapon before me. I did not ask for Zeus's master bolt, but since it is here, you will yield it to me. I am sure it will make an excellent bargaining tool. And now…my helmet. Where is it?"  
I was speechless, for once in my life- how the Hades did we manage to have the bolt in Percy's back-pack?  
"Lord Hades, wait," Percy said slowly. "This is all a mistake."  
"A mistake?" Hades roared.  
The skeletons aimed their weapons. From high above there were fluttering of leathery wings, and the three Furies swooped down to perch on the back of their master's throne.  
"There is no mistake," Hades said. "I know why you have come- I know the _real_ reason you brought the bolt. You came to bargain for _her_."  
Hades loosed a ball in the palm of his hand that exploded into steps, directly in front of Percy. And there frozen in a shower of gold, just before the Minotaur squeezed her, was Percy's mother. It was the first time I had seen her. Her face was flawless and full of peace. Percy looked a lot like her.  
I couldn't help but look back at Percy, as my heart sank. I saw the sorrow and desperation on his face. His green eyes lost the glint of light in them, for the very first time. Percy slowly reached out, as if wanting to touch his mother's face, but his hand resided as he felt the flames of the light.  
"Yes," Hades said in satisfaction. "I took her. I knew, Percy Jackson that you would come to bargain with me eventually. Return my helmet, and perhaps I will let her go. She is not dead, you know. Not yet. But if you displease me, that will change."  
A few moments of silence and then…"Ah, the pearls. Yes my brother and his little tricks. Bring them forth, Percy Jackson."  
Percy brought out the pearls- like an idiot.  
"Only three," Hades said. "What a shame. Do you realize each only protects a single person. Try to take you mother, then, little godling. And which of your friends will you leave behind to spend eternity with me? Go on. Choose. Or give me the backpack and accept my terms."  
Percy looked at us.  
"We were tricked." He told us. "Set up."  
"Yes, but why?" I asked. "And the voice in the pit-"  
"I don't know yet," Percy said. "But I intend to ask."  
"Decide, boy!" Hades yelled.  
"Percy," Grover put his hand on Percy's shoulder. "You can't give him the bolt."  
I knew then, that Percy's mind was working; I started running my brain too, thinking a hundred miles per hour about the pearls, trying to work out a plan.  
"I know that" Percy told him.  
At that moment, I should have been worrying. But the truth was: I didn't have the slightest doubt with Percy. He wouldn't let anyone of us get hurt.  
I was just praying he wouldn't sacrifice himself... he couldn't.  
"Leave me here," Grover said. "Use the third one on your mom."  
"No!"  
"I'm a satyr," Grover said. "We don't have souls like humans do. He can torture me until I die, but he won't get me forever. I'll just be reincarnated as a flower or something. It's the best way."  
"No," I couldn't help it, Grover wasn't turning into a flower, and Seaweed Brain wasn't about to sacrifice himself. I drew my bronze knife, "You two go on. Grover, you have to protect Percy. You have to get your searchers licence and start your quest for Pan. Get his mother out of here. I'll cover for you. I plan to go down fighting." The thing that surprised me, just a little bit, was that I meant it. I didn't have the slightest hesitation of fear. I was willing to sacrifice myself.  
"No way," Grover said. "I'm staying behind."  
"Think again, goat boy." I challenged.  
"Stop it both of you!" We looked at Percy; His face close to breaking. He shut his eyes for a moment, and I felt like he was remembering everything we had been through together: from Medusa, to Cerberus, to the water land ride, the lotus casino. And the thousands of miles we had spent together.  
Percy opened his eyes, showing a new layer of willpower on his stormy green pupils.  
"I know what to do," Percy said. "Take these."  
He handed us each a pearl.  
"But, Percy..." I started.  
Percy turned and faced his mother. My heart raced… Percy couldn't sacrifice himself! I had lost Thalia, and now I wasn't about to lose Percy too! I clenched my hands around my necklace.  
"I'm sorry," Percy spoke in a low voice, towards his mother; once again- totally unpredictable. By now, I should have just stopped trying to read him. There was no code to Percy, he did whatever was right, and he did whatever his heart said. That was one of the things I liked best about Seaweed Brain. "I'll be back. I'll find a way."  
The smug look on Hades's face faded. He said, "Godling...?"  
"I'll find your helmet, Uncle," Percy told him. "I'll return it. Remember about Charon's pay raise."  
"Do not defy me-"  
"And it wouldn't hurt to play with Cerberus once in a while. He like red rubber balls."  
"Percy Jackson, you will not-"  
"Now guys!" Percy shouted.  
We crushed the pearls with our feet. For a scary moment, nothing happened.  
"Hades yelled, "Destroy them!"  
The army of skeletons marched forward, weapons out. The Furies lunged, their whips bursting into flame.  
Just as the skeletons opened fire, the pearl exploded at my feet with a burst of exotic green light and a gush of sea breeze. I was encased in a milky white sphere, which was starting to float of the ground.  
Spears and bullets bounced harmlessly of the bubbles as we floated up. Hades yelled with such rage, the entire fortress shook.  
"Look up!" Grover yelled. "We're going to crash."  
True enough, we were racing straight towards the stalactites, which I figured would pop our bubbles and skewer us.  
"How do you control these things?" I shouted.  
"I don't think you do!" Percy shouted back. Great!  
We screamed as the bubbles slammed into the ceiling and into ... Darkness.  
Were we dead?  
No, I could still feel the racing sensation- like a rollercoaster. We were going up through solid rock as easily as an air bubble in water.  
For a few minutes, I couldn't see anything outside the smooth walls of my sphere, then my pearl broke through onto ocean floor, Percy's bubble was already zooming towards shore- Grover and mine's bubble's followed suit. And _ker_-_blam! _  
We exploded onto the surface, in the middle of Los Angles Bay.  
I felt someone grab my arm and tow me over to a lifebuoy. Percy and Grover were holding onto the buoy, too.  
Somehow, I knew what time of day it was: early in the morning, 21st of July, the day of the summer solstice.  
In the distance, Los Angeles was on fire, plumes of smoke rising from neighbourhoods all over the city. There had been an earthquake, alright, and it was Hades's fault. He was probably sending an army of dead after us, right now.  
But that wasn't our biggest worry of all- not in the slightest. There would be this disaster times a million if we didn't return Zeus's lightning bolt to Olympus, quickly. Most of all, Percy wanted to have a little chat with his cousin. 


	14. Percy's Worst Idea Yet

14.

A Security Coast Guard life boat dragged us out of the water and situated us onto the shore with towels wrapped round our necks with a water bottle each, which said: I'M A JUNIOR COAST GUARD on it and sped off to retrieve more people.  
Our clothes were sopping wet. Percy was barefoot, he had given his shoes to Grover. Better the coast guards wonder why one of us was bare foot than why one of us had hooves.  
After reaching dry land, we stumbled down the beach, watching the city burn against a beautiful sunrise.  
"I don't believe it," I still couldn't get over the fact that..."We went all that way-"  
"It was a trick," "A strategy worthy of Athena."  
"Hey," I warned.  
"You get it, don't you?"  
Then I noticed the toneless sense of humour in his voice. My anger faded. "Yeah, I get it."  
"Well, I don't!" Grover complained. "Would somebody-"  
"Percy..." I said. "I'm sorry about your mother. I'm so sorry..."  
He kept silent. But I knew he heard me.  
"The prophecy was right," Percy said. "'You shall go west and face the god who had turned.' But that wasn't Hades. Hades didn't want war between the Big Three. Someone else pulled of the theft. Someone stole Zeus's master bolt, and Hades's helmet, and framed me because I'm Poseidon's kid. Poseidon will get blamed from both sides. By sun-down today, there will be a three-way-war. And I'll have caused it."  
Grover shook his head, perplexed. "But who would be that sneaky? Who would want war that bad?"  
Percy stopped in his tracks, looking down the beach. "Gee, let me think."  
It was obvious, who was the god of war?  
It was Ares. Everything suddenly made sense. Ares had tricked us; he had set us up to look like the criminals. And I was pretty upright ticked off about that. I looked over at Percy, who was burning red with rage.  
_Uh oh_. 'Percy + anger+ god = Very, very bad.'  
There he was leaning against his Harley, waiting for us, in his black leather duster and sunglasses, an aluminium baseball bat propped on his shoulder. His motorcycle rumbled beside him, it's headlight turning the sand red.  
"Hey, kid," Ares said, seemingly genuinely pleased to see Percy. "You were supposed to die."  
"You tricked me," The aura was affecting us all again. "_You_ stole the helmet and the master bolt."  
Ares grinned, "Well now, I didn't steal them personally. Gods taking each other's symbol of power- that's a big no-no. But you're not the only hero who can run errands."  
"Who did you use? Clarisse? She was there at the winter solstice."  
The idea seemed to amuse him. "Doesn't matter. The point is, kid, you're impeding the war effort. See, you've got to die in the Underworld. Then Old Seaweed will be mad at Hades for killing you. Corspe Breath will have Zeus's master bolt, so Zeus'll be mad at _him_. And Hades is still looking for this..."  
From his pocket, he took out a ski cap- the kind bank robbers wear- and placed it between the handlebars of his bike. Instantly, the cap transformed into an elaborate bronze war helmet.  
"The helmet of Darkness," Grover gasped.  
"Exactly," Ares said. "Now where was I? Oh yeah, Hades will be mad at both Zeus and Poseidon, because he doesn't know who took this. Pretty soon, we got a three-way slugfest going."  
"But they're your family!" I protested. Surely he wouldn't want his own family having their guts torn out of them.  
Ares shrugged. He didn't seem to mind... "Best kind of war. Always the bloodiest. Nothing like watching your relatives fight, I always say."  
"You gave me the back pack in Denver," Percy said. "The master bolt was in there the whole time."  
"Yes and no," Ares said. "It's probably too complicated for a little mortal brain to follow, but the backpack is the master bolts sheath, just morphed a bit. The bolt is connected to it, sort of like that sword you got, kid. It always returns to your pocket, right?"  
Percy thought for a moment.  
"Anyways," Ares continued. "I tinkered with the magic a bit, so the bolt would only return to the sheath when you reached the Underworld. You get close to Hades...Bingo, you got mail. If you died along the way- no loss. I still had the weapon."  
"But why not keep the master bolt for yourself?" Great suggestion, Percy! Give him another totally absurd idea. "Why send it to Hades?"  
Ares twitched, and it felt like he was listening to a voice deep down in his head. "Why didn't I... yeah...with that kind of fire-power..."  
He held his trance for one second… two seconds…  
Percy and I exchanged nervous looks.  
Ares's face cleared. "I didn't want the trouble. Better to have you caught red-handed, holding the thing."  
"You're lying," Percy stepped forward. "Sending the bolt to the underworld wasn't your idea, was it?" Percy accused the god of war.  
"Of course it was!" Smoke drifted up from his sunglasses, as if they were about to catch fire.  
"You didn't order the theft." Percy guessed. "Someone else sent a hero to steal the two items. Then, when Zeus sent you to hunt him down, you caught the thief. But you didn't turn him over to Zeus. Something convinced you to let him go. You kept the items until another hero could come along and complete the delivery. That thing in the pit is ordering you around."  
My heart was hard, and I don't know how Percy managed to look Ares straight in the eyes of flames and talk back. How could he so tranquilly avoid Ares's aura?  
"I am the god of war! I take orders from no one! I don't have dreams!"  
Percy hesitated in answering. "Who said anything about dreams?"  
Ares looked disturbed, but he tried to cover it up with a stupid smirk.  
"Let's get back to the problem at hand, kid. You're alive. I can't have you taking that bolt to Olympus. You might get those hard-headed idiots to listen to you. So I've got to kill you. Nothing personal."  
He snapped his fingers. The sand exploded at his feet and out charged a wild, gigantic boar. The beast pawed the sand menacingly, glaring at Percy with charcoal black beady eyes.  
Percy stepped into the surf and said the most stupidest thing ever (I know I have said that a lot but Percy does many stupid things), "Fight me yourself Ares."  
He laughed, but I noticed the edge to his laughter... an uneasiness. "You've only got one talent, kid. Running away. You ran from the Chimera. You ran from the Underworld. You don't have what it takes."  
"Sacred?"  
"In your adolescent dreams." But his sunglasses were starting to melt from the heat of his eyes. "No direct involvement. Sorry, kid. You're not at my level."  
Percy didn't seem to be moving, and the boar was getting ready to charge, so I said, "Percy, run!"  
The giant boar charged.  
Instead of taking my advice, Percy uncapped his pen and step sided the monster. He slashed at the boar with the sword that had no replace the pen. The boar's served tusk fell at his feet, while the disoriented animal charged into the sea.  
Percy shouted, "Wave!"  
On his command, a large wave surged up from no-where and engulfed the boar in one large wipe.  
Percy turned back to Ares. "Are you going to fight me now?" He asked. Don't encourage him! I thought. But he humiliated Ares even more, "Or are you going to hide behind another pet pig?"  
Ares's face was purple with rage. "Watch it, kid. I could turn you into-"  
"A cockroach," Percy said. "Or a tapeworm. Yeah, I'm sure. That'd save you from getting your godly hide whipped, wouldn't it?"  
Flames danced along the top of his glasses. "Oh, man, you are really asking to be turned into a grease spot."  
"If I lose, turn me into anything you want. Take the bolt. If I win, the helmet and the bolt are mine and you have to go away."  
Ares sneered.  
I couldn't believe that Percy- as stupid as he was- was actually going to _fight_ the god of _war_. Didn't he realise that gods _can't_ die?  
Ares swung the baseball bat off his shoulder. "How would you like to get smashed: classic or modern?"  
Percy showed him his sword.  
"That's cool, dead boy." He said. "Classic it is." The baseball bat turned into a huge, two-handed sword. The hilt was a large silver skull with a shimmering ruby in its mouth.  
"Percy," He didn't seem to get that he would obviously lose, he hadn't planned the strategies of the fight or anything. "Don't do this. He's a god."  
"He's a coward." He told me.  
I swallowed. If he won't be persuaded, at least I could give him some good luck..."Wear this, at least. For luck."  
I took off my camp necklace, with my five year's worth of camp beads and the ring from my father, and tied it around his neck.  
"Reconciliation." I said. "Athena and Poseidon together."  
A tiny blush crept onto his cheeks, but he smiled meekly. "Thanks."  
"And take this," Grover said. He handed him a flattened tin can that he'd probably been saving in his pocket for thousands of miles. "That satyrs stand behind you."  
"Grover... I don't know what to say."  
He patted him on the shoulder. Percy stuffed the tin can in his back pocket.  
I was considering the thought about giving him a hug, but Ares started talking before I had decided. "All done saying goodbye?" Ares walked towards us. "I've been fighting for eternity, kid. My strength is unlimited and I can not die. What have you got?"  
Percy said nothing, but I could tell he was answering the question in his mind.  
Without a warning, Ares cleaved downwards at Percy head. I thought he was going to slice him in half like a piece of bread. But somehow, Percy managed to dodge it out of sheer look.  
A small wave seemed to have lifted Percy, effortlessly above the ground and over the top of Ares's head. Percy slashed down at Ares's head, but, unfortunately, he was just as quick. Percy twisted, and the strike that should've got the top of Ares's shoulder blade was deflected by his sword hilt.  
He grinned, "Not bad, not bad."  
They kept on slashing at each other; Percy wasn't even getting in close. Had he not learnt anything in sword training at camp? If you have a smaller sword, get in close. I was analysing his every move. Every time I would have created a blow at Ares's head, Percy did something completely different. As I said before, he was totally unpredictable.  
The sound of police sirens entered my hearing system, the mortals had spotted them. I alerted Percy at once. "Percy!" I shouted over the clanging of swords. "Cops!"  
While I hadn't been watching, Percy had somehow ended up ten or fifteen metres away, and landed in a soft sand dune.  
"There, officer!" somebody yelled. "See?"  
A gruff cop voice: "Looks like that kid on TV… what the heck…"  
"That guy's armed," another cop said. "Call for back up."  
Ares was nearing Percy now and slashed down, but, luckily, Percy saw it coming, and rolled out of the way.  
I was digging my nails into my palms so hard, that I had drawn some blood. It oozed out of my skin like some watery substance that you would use in science, a dark, rich, scarlet colour.  
More cop cars skidded into the scene, talking to other mortal cops through walkie-talkies.  
Humongous masses of spectators crowded the streets noisily, creating mayhem in the roads and avenues. Among the gathering streets, I saw a few people walking strangely. "_Satyrs_," Grover murmured. There were flickering forms of spirits, too, as if the army of Hades had risen up from the Underworld to watch the combat. The sound of flapping leathery wings was heard from above the audience.  
Furies.  
Two more cop cars skidded into the chaos.  
A cop on a megaphone said, "Drop the guns! Set them on the ground. Now!"  
Guns?  
The last time I checked, they were definitely fighting with swords.  
_Looks like the mist is doing its job, _I thought.  
I looked back at Percy and Ares, their ankles were now surrounded by water. Ares turned to glare at the crowd.  
"This is a private matter!" He bellowed. "Be gone!"  
I jumped out of my skin as an explosion as loud as a volcano burst into everyone's hearing as Ares swept his hand, and a wave of fiery, scorching, red, flames, enveloped the patrol cars. The police barely had anytime to run for cover before their vehicles exploded. The crowd behind them scattered, screaming.  
Ares roared with laughter. "Now, little hero. Let's add you to the barbeque."  
He slashed. Percy swiftly pulled his arm up in an arch shape and blocked the slash with his left arm.  
Gradually, they were walking deeper and deeper into the graciously flowing sea. The waves were up to Percy's back, now, and Ares was wading in with the water up to thigh level.  
Ares advanced forward. Blood was now dribbling onto the sand now, dying parts of the sand particles blood-red. Percy lowered his sword an inch or two.  
_No!_, I felt like screaming, _don't give up now!  
_Ares raised his sword, stating his final (Percy's fatal) blow. Just before the blade came crashing down, the sea seemed to lift Percy fluently over Ares's head, on a massive wave, it was like a repetition of the start of the battle, but a much, much larger version.  
A two-metre wall of salty, seawater and filthy, sand-filled seaweed collided with Ares, leaving him spluttering with the contents of the sparkling water.  
I couldn't see the battle from then because there was swirling barrier of water, like tornado in the middle of the sea, obscuring them from view.  
Suddenly, a thunderous roar echoed throughout the land, making the Hades eruption seem like a minor event. The sea was blasted out of the area where Percy and Ares were leaving a space wet sand fifteen metres wide.  
After a few seconds of this pandemonium, abruptly, the light started to fade from everything from the sky to the sea. I wondered if it was Ares's magic. But I didn't seem like it; Ares's power was fire and stuff to do with that. Colour started to drain, too. An icy, deep, presence past over the beach, slowing time, reducing the temperature to freezing and making me feel like life was unpromising, fighting was unpromising.  
The darkness lifted.  
Ares looked stunned.  
Police cars were burning beside us. The crowd of spectators had fled. I looked back at the water, there as something odd about it; the part around Ares's ankle was shimmering gold. Inchor, the golden blood of the gods, was flowing out of Ares's boot.  
I was awestruck! Percy had actually managed to wound Ares!  
Ares lowered his sword, pure hatred burned on his face.  
"You have made an enemy, godling," Ares growled at Percy, "You have sealed your fate. Every time you raise your blade in battle, every time you hope for success, you will feel my curse. Beware, Perseus Jackson. Beware."  
His body began to glow, changing into his true immortal form.  
"Percy!" I warned. "Don't watch!"  
I averted my eyes.  
The light faded.  
I looked back. Ares had gone. The tide rolled out to reveal Hades helmet of Darkness. Percy picked it up and started towards us.  
I was still marvelling over the fact that Percy had actually _beaten_ Ares. I had to admit, I was quite impressed with his sword fighting. I mean, I had been training for _years_; Percy had been trainings for _hours_, and I still wouldn't have the courage to stand up to Ares and battle him.  
Before he reached us, I heard the sound of leathery wings flapping. Three, evil looking grandmas with lace hats and fiery whips drifted down from the sky and landed in between us and Percy.  
The middle one, also known as Mrs Dodds- according to Percy-, stepped forwards.  
"We saw the whole thing," she hissed. "So… it truly was not you?"  
Percy tossed her the helmet, which she caught in surprise.  
"Return that to Lord Hades," Percy said. "Tell him the truth. Tell him to call off the war."  
"Live well, Percy Jackson. Become a true hero. Because if you do not, if you ever come into my clutches again…"  
She cackled, savouring the idea. Then her and her sisters rose on theirs bat's wings, fluttered into the smoke-filled sky and disappeared.  
Percy joined us, my mouth was slightly open, still recovering from being awestruck.  
"Percy," Grover said. "That was so incredibly …"  
"Terrifying," I finished.  
"Cool!" Grover corrected.  
"Did you guys feel that... whatever it was?" Percy asked.  
We both nodded uneasily.  
"Must've been the Furies overhead." Grover suggested.  
That was no Fury aura. The Furies had been watching from the beginning. I had a nasty feeling that it was that- thing- in the pit.  
Percy and I passed an understanding.  
Percy reclaimed his backpack from Grover and looked inside. The master bolt was still there.  
"We have to get back to New York," Percy said. "By tonight."  
"But that's impossible," I said. "Unless we-"  
"Fly," Percy agreed.  
He was definitely crazy. "Fly, like, in an aeroplane, which you were warned never to do lest Zeus strike you out of he sky, _and_ carry a weapon that has more destructive power than a nuclear bomb?"  
"Yeah," Percy said. "Pretty much exactly like that. Come on." 


	15. Fake And True Stories

**(A/N Sorry, this is a really short chapter because most of it is Percy in Olympus and Grover and Annabeth don't accompany him there)**

Its funny how mortals can enfold their minds into what they think is true rather than actual reality.  
According to the L.A. news, the explosion at Santa Monica beach was created by a crazy hijacker who shot a bullet at a cop car. He had unintentionally hit a gas tank that had fissured for the duration of the earthquake.  
This crazy kidnapper (a.k.a Ares) was the same man who had kidnapped Percy and two adolescents in New York and brought us transversely the country on a ten-day odyssey of fright.  
Poor little Percy Jackson was not a deliberate criminal after all. He had caused an upheaval on that Greyhound bus in New Jersey trying to get away from his subjugator (and afterwards, witnesses would even swear they had seen the leather-clad man on the bus- "Why didn't I remember him before?"). The mad bloke had caused the detonation at St Louis Arch. After all, no kid could have done that. A concerned waitress in Denver had seen the man menacing his abductees outside her diner, gotten a friend to taken a snapshot, and then alerted the police force. Then, brave Percy Jackson- a smile leap across Percy's face like a dolphin at sea world, had stolen a gun from his captor in Los Angeles and battled him shotgun-to-rifle on the beach. Police had arrived just in time. But in the extravagant explosion, five police cars had been flamed and the captor had fled. No fatalities had occurred. Percy Jackson and his friends were now in the safe hands of police custody.  
The reporters fed us this whole story. We just nodded and acted weepy and shattered (which wasn't hard at all), and played victimized kids for the cameras.  
"All I want," Percy faked choking back his tears, "is to see my loving step-father again. Every time I see him on T.V. calling me a delinquent punk, I knew... somehow... we would be okay. And I know that he'll want to reward each and every person in this beautiful city of Los Angeles with a free major appliance from his store. Here's the phone number." I hated to see the look of Percy's step-fathers face when he received a million phone calls the next morning.  
The police and the reporters were so moved by his sappy story that they passed the message onto every news channel and raised money enough for three tickets to the next plane to New York.  
I know it was an utterly un-wise choice, but it was the only way to get to the Empire State building in time for midnight.  
Takeoff was a nightmare. Every spot of turbulence was scarier than a Greek monster; I felt like we were going to be blasted right out of the sky. Percy didn't unclench his hands on the arm-rest until the aeroplane had landed at La Guardia, creating small nail dints in the red leather. The local press was waiting for us outside security, but when managed to evade them thanks to my invisibility cap, shouting, "They're over by the frozen yogurt! Come on!", then rejoined them at the baggage claim.  
We split up at the taxi stand. Percy told us to go back to Camp and reassure Chiron of our safety and tell him the truth. We protested, but Percy insisted to go on his own. We gave in; we could trust him, with all that we'd been through together.  
So we set off on our different ways.

One hour later, we arrived at Half-Blood Hill, the cab driver gave us an enquiring look as if to say 'There's nothing here accept a pine tree.' We paid him and jumped out the cab and ran up the hill, breathlessly reaching the top.  
We sprinted to the Big House, ignoring the questions thrown at us from random campers: "Where's Percy?"  
"Is it true you were kidnapped by a crazy guy?" etc.  
Chiron was pacing the floor in front of the low-burning flickering flames of the fire, I had a weird feeling that he had been doing that for the majority of the time we had been on the perilous quest. When we entered, Chiron spoke in a voice of urgency, "Tell me what happened. Tell me _everything_."  
I looked at Grover, he nodded at me.  
I took a very, very deep breath, and began our story. 


	16. Final Goodbyes

**(A/N this is the last chapter of Percy Jackson and the Lightening Thief: Annabeth's Point of View. Hope you enjoy it. By the way, look out for the next one: Percy Jackson and the Sea of Monsters: Annabeth's Point of View. Love the reviews! :D xx)**

It was like we had just come back from a perilous journey that no one had ever completed before- which was kind if true. Every single camper asked us about our quest. We had to repeat it at the minimum of ten times! I let Percy do most of the talking, and corrected his mistakes when he made one, for example, his grammar.  
My jawed ached by the end of the week; I was lucky my voice didn't break!  
According to camp tradition, we wore laurel wreaths to a big feast prepared in our honour, and then led a procession down to the bonfire, where we got to burn the burial shrouds our cabins had made for us in our absence.  
My shroud was absolutely beautiful. It was a slippery grey silk with embroidered sliver owls. Percy said that it was a shame not to bury me in it. I told him to shut up and made my words clear by punching him in the face. Don't hit at all if it is honourably possible to avoid hitting; but never hit soft.  
I laughed a long with the crowd (and Percy) at the burial shroud that the Ares cabin has sown together for Percy. They had taken an old bed sheet and painted bright canary yellow smiley-faces with crosses for the eyes around the border, and the word LOSER painted in blood-red really big in the middle.  
Percy was happy to burn it.  
As Apollo's cabin led the sing along and passed out toasted marshmallows, the majority of the camp came to crowd around Percy, Grover and I. Grover's entire satyr friends were admiring the brand new searchers licence that he had be given by the Council of Cloven Elders. The council had called Grover's performance on the quest 'Brave to the point if indigestion. Horns-and-whiskers above anything we have seen in the past.'  
Dionysus's welcome back speech didn't manage to damage my spirits. "Yes, yes, so the little brat didn't manage to get himself killed and now he'll have an even bigger head. Well, huzzah for that. In other announcements, there will be no canoe races this Saturday..."  
At nearly in the morning, the campers left the amphitheatre, and went back to their cabins. I laid awake for a while, listening to the comforting deep breaths of my siblings around me; many thoughts came forward in my mind but then quickly changing to another though pushed it away as quickly as it had come.  
But, there was one thought that would not seem to be budged from my mind. It was still tugging at my mind who this thief was. Percy only knows a few campers at Half-Blood Hill; it must've been a camper who was skilled at stealing. But the only camper that was the son of Hermes- God of Thieves- that person had talked to and heard their voice was: Luke. Luke _did_ go to the field trip on the winter solstice. Soon after that, the weather started changing. No, it couldn't be…  
Sleep over came me as soon as I closed my eyes, the dampening thought still lingering.

*4th July, Largest Romanic Event At Camp*

The entire camp gathered at the beach for the tradition fireworks display, by cabin nine. Being Hephaestus's children, they weren't going to let this be a boring display, they never did nor would. They'd anchored a barge offshore and loaded it with rockets the size if Patriot missiles. I explained to Percy, who hadn't seen the performance before, that the blasts were sequenced so tightly they'd look like frames of animation across the sky. The finale was supposed to be a couple of thirty-metre-tall Spartan warriors who would crackle to life above the ocean, fight a magnificent battle, and then explode into millions of different colours.  
Selena smirked at me, while I was spreading a small picnic blanket on a soft patch of dry green grass with Percy. I gave her one of my death glares, and turned to face Grover who had just turned up to give me and Percy a last farewell. He was wearing the usual t-shirt, jeans and trainers outfit. He was definitely starting to look older. His goatee was slightly thicker. He'd put on a bit of weight. His horns had grown a few centimetres taller, so now he had to wear his Rasta cap all the time to pass as human.  
"I'm off," he said. "I just came to say ... Well, you know."  
I knew it was hard for him saying goodbye, when he might never come back again. I had had the feeling before. I tried to feel happy for him; it's not every day a satyr gets the permission to go looking for Pan. Grover had been my friend since I was seven; he had guided me along to camp and had always been there for Luke and me after Thalia's... accident.  
I gave him a warming hugs; silently wishing him great luck.  
Why does it take a minute to say hello and forever to say goodbye?  
"Keep your fake feet on," I told him.  
Percy asked him where he was going to search first.  
"Kind of a secret," he said, looking embarrassed. "I wish you could come with me, guys, but humans and Pan..."  
"We understand." I assured him. "You got enough tin cans for the trip?"  
"Yeah."  
"And you remembered your reed pipes?"  
"Jeez, Annabeth," he grumbled. "You sound like an old mama goat."  
But he didn't really sound annoyed.  
He gripped his walking stick tightly, and slung a backpack across his shoulder. He looked like any American hitchhiker you might see on a highway.  
"Well," Grover said. "Wish me look."  
He gave me another hug and clapped Percy on the shoulder, then headed back through the dunes.  
Fireworks exploded over head: Hercules killing the Nemean lion, Artemis chasing the boar, George Washington (who, by the way, was a son of Athena) crossing the Delaware.  
"Hey, Grover." Percy called.  
He turned at the edge of the woods.  
"Wherever you're going- I hope they make good enchiladas."  
Grover grinned, and then he was gone, the trees closing around him.  
"We'll see him again," I told Percy, believing myself with my whole heart. Grover would be the first to survive this mission. I was certain of it.

The last night of the summer session came way too quickly.  
The campers had one last meal together. We made sacrifices for the gods. At the bonfire, the senior counsellors awarded the end-of-summer beads.  
The bead was pitch black, with a sea-green trident shimmering in the centre.  
"The choice was unanimous," Luke announced. "The bead commemorates the first Son of the Sea God at this camp. And the quest he undertook into the darkest parts if the Underworld to stop a war!"  
The entire camp got to their feet and applauded. But what made me blush a red as a tomato was when the Athena cabin pushed me forward so I could share the applause.  
This was my home. And I would never forget it, even if I did choose to take a certain somebody's advice.

*Next Morning*

Campers would be leaving today. But I had made my choice.  
I sat down at a small wooden desk that was cramped with papers, pencils and over writing utensils. I grabbed an A4 piece of paper and a long thin pencil, then started to write:

Dear Dad and Harriat **(A/N It is a girl's name and can be spelt different ways- I checked)**,  
I am taking a friend's advice by writing a letter of apology to you. I am truly sorry for running away. I shouldn't have done that. I just thought you didn't accept me; with my scent attracting monsters all the time. But you know I can't help it. I didn't mean for all those monsters to ruin the house and destroy your hard work plans and expensive furniture. I want you to know that you can't help who I am. I am what I am: a demigod.

An uninvited tear ran down my cheek.

I am not who you want me to be; I am who I am supposed to be. Though I ran away from you I can't run away from myself. I can't run away from monsters. I have to stand and fight like every other half-blood. It makes me feel weak and useless if I can't fight- that's part of being a daughter of Athena. I hope you will accept who I am; please think about it and write back. I miss you all and hope you will welcome me without hatred in your heart.  
Your half-blood daughter,  
Annabeth

I folded up the letter and sealed it in an envelope.  
I ran to Chiron and asked him to send it to the person addressed on the back of the envelope, keeping my eyes fixed on the wall behind him.  
He took one glance at the addresser and smiled down at me. He nodded. I let out a breath that I realised I had been holding.  
I slowly turned around and headed back to the cabins.  
I sat down on my bed, the vacancy of the cabin hitting be like a crowbar. I hugged my knees into my chest and took a few deep breaths. More tears, which felt like burning tar against my cold skin, ran down my cheeks. Would my only family accept me?  
When I had calmed down, I realised that there was something in my pocket. I dug my hand into my pocket and pulled out a baby pink silk scarf.  
Aphrodite's scarf.  
I hadn't taken it out of my pocket since the tunnel if love ride. I decided to put it up in the attic with all the other souvenirs from long-ago quests.  
I smiled. Luke would be proud of me. I pushed myself off of my bed and made my way to the Big House, yet again.  
Nobody was on the porch so I silently crept past the doors that were open ajar. The attic was four flights of stairs upward and ended under a green trap-door.  
I pulled the cord. The door swung down, and a wooden ladder clattered into place.  
The warm air from above smelled like mildew and decayed wood and the smell of rotting dead reptiles.  
I held my breath and went in.  
The attic was cramped with Greek hero junk: armour stands covered in cobwebs; once bright shields, now layered with dust; old leather streamer trunks plastered with stickers that said: ITHAKA, CIRCE'S ISLAND and LAND OF THE AMAZONS. A dusty mounted trophy on the wall looked like a giant snake's head, but with horns and a full set of shark's teeth. The plaque read: HYDRA HEAD NO.1, WOODSTOCK, NY, 1969. One long table was stacked with glass jars filled with pickled things- severed hairy claws, huge canary yellow eyes, various other parts of monsters.  
By the window, sitting on a rickety wooden tripod stool, was the gruesome mummy. The Oracle.  
I cleared a small spot on the window sill, and placed the bright sparkling scarf down. It looked odd against all the dust covered objects. It was the only recent souvenir that had been placed in here since Luke's quest. I wrote on a piece of paper and attached it to the pink silk scarf:  
SCARF OF THE GODDESS APHRODITE  
recovered at Waterland, Denver, Co.,  
by Annabeth Chase and Percy Jackson  
The scarf was something to resemble that Poseidon and Athena _can_ work together to achieve something great; it was like a monument, it would last forever up here. It wouldn't be torn down or crumble to pieces.

I climbed back down the ladder and stepped onto the porch when an urgent voice shouted, "Help! Camper injured!" It was a cabin counsellor.  
The conch horn sounded.  
I ran to where the crowd of people were gathering. I pushed the people in front of me out the way, and stared down in horror.  
I gasped. Percy was clutching his right hand like his life depended on it. His skin was turning grey and green.  
First Thalia, now Percy was on the inch of death. This could not be happening.  
"Don't just stand here and stare!" I shouted. "Do something!" But everyone was still in too much shock. Two tree nymphs, that were holding him by the arms lifted him and started heaving him towards the big house.  
They wouldn't make it in time if they were going at this slow speed.  
I ran to back o the big house, and banged on the door.  
Chiron came rotting out of the front room.  
"Percy…" I panted. "Near the forest… hurry,"  
Chiron set of at once, me following closely behind. "Out of my way," Chiron ordered. The campers stumbled away, giving him a wide range of space. I knelt down at Percy's head; my heart in my throat; my head was pounding like a drum, making all the noises around me sound like distant voices calling.  
Chiron laid his hands on top of Percy's chest and started to whisper Ancient Greek under his breath.  
Dark, green smoke wisped from his hands and swirled around Percy's chest and Chiron's hands.  
_Centaur healing magic_, I thought.  
After a couple of distressing minutes, Chiron lifted Percy onto his back and trotted off to the Big House and into the infirmary. I ran after him.  
I wrapped cloth around Percy's injured hand and doused a cloth in water and started dabbing his sweat-beaded forehead. I took some nectar from the appliance cupboard and placed the straw into Percy's mouth. Then I continued dabbing Percy's head.  
Chiron transferred back into his wheelchair form and wheeled over to the end of the bed.  
About half an hour later, Percy stirred conscious again. "Here we are again." He said.  
"You idiot," I said, although I was actually really relieved to see him conscious. "You were green and turning grey when we found you. If it weren't for Chiron's healing..."  
"Now, now," Chiron said. "Percy's constitution deserves some of the credit."  
Percy shifted himself so he could see Chiron.  
"How are you feeling?" Chiron enquired.  
"Like my insides have been frozen, then microwaved."  
"Apt, considering that was pit scorpion venom. Now you must tell me, if you can, exactly what happened."  
Between the sips of the nectar, Percy told us the story.  
The room was filled with a deadly silence.  
"I can't believe that Luke..." My voice faltered. Then I remembered I had realised it before but had never considered it as a possibility. Who else am I going to lose? Thalia's gone. Grover has gone and may never come back. Percy nearly died. And now Luke has gone. "Yes. Yes, I _can_ believe it. May the gods curse him... he was never the same after his quest."  
"This must be reported to Olympus," Chiron announced. "I will go at once."  
"Luke is out there right now." Percy said. "I have to go after him."  
Chiron shook his head. "No, Percy. The gods-"  
"Won't even _talk_ about Kronos," Percy snapped. "Zeus declared the matter closed!"  
"Percy, I know this is hard. But you must not rush out for vengeance. You aren't ready."  
Percy gave in. But he always has something else to ask, the important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing, "Chiron... your prophecy from the Oracle... it was about Kronos, wasn't it? Was I in it? And Annabeth?"  
Chiron glanced nervously at the ceiling. Percy it isn't my place-"  
"You've been ordered not to talk to me about it, haven't you?"  
His eyes were sympathetic, but sad. "You will be a great hero, child. I will do my best to prepare you. But if I'm right about the path ahead of you..."  
Thunder boomed overhead, rattling the windows.  
"Alright!" Chiron shouted. "Fine!"  
He sighed in frustration. "The gods have their reasons, Percy. Knowing too much of your future is never a good thing."  
"We can't just sit back and do nothing," Percy said.  
"_We_ will not sit back," Chiron promised. "But _you _must be careful. Kronos wants you to come unravelled. He wants your life disrupted, your thoughts clouded with fear and anger. Do not give him what he wants. Train patiently. Your time will come."  
"Assuming I live that long." Positive thinking, Percy.  
Chiron put his hand on Percy's ankle. "You'll have to trust me, Percy. You will live. But first you must decide your path for the coming year. I cannot tell you the right choice..." It was obvious what Chiron would have wanted to advise to Percy, but he kept his lips sealed. "...But you must decide whether to stay at Camp Half-Blood year-round, or return to the mortal world for seventh grade and be a summer camper. Think on that. When I get back from Olympus, you must tell me your decision."  
Percy kept silent.  
"I'll be back as soon as I can," Chiron promised. "Argus will watch over you."  
He glanced at me. "Oh, and, my dear... whenever you're ready, they're here."  
"Who's here?" Percy questioned.  
That was quick.  
I kept my face expressionless, hiding my feelings. Chiron rolled himself out of the room. I heard the wheels of his chair clunk carefully down the front steps, two at a time.  
I studied the ice in Percy's drink, avoiding his gaze.  
It never works. "What's wrong?" He asked me.  
"Nothing," I set the glass on the table. "I... just took your advice about something. You... um... need anything?"  
"Yeah. Help me up. I want to go outside."  
"Percy, that isn't a good idea."  
He swung his legs out of bed. I caught him before he could crumble to the floor. His face coloured green.  
I said, "I told you..."  
"I'm fine," he insisted. I rolled my eyes; he was obviously not.  
He managed a step forward. Then another, still leaning heavily on me. Argus followed, but he kept his distance.  
By the time we reached the porch, his face was beaded with sweat.  
It was dusk. The camp looked completely deserted. The cabins were dark and the volleyball pit silent. No canoes cut the surface of the lake. Beyond the woods and the strawberry fields, the Long Island Sounds glittered in the last light of the sun.  
"What are you going to do?" I asked him.  
"I don't know."  
He told me that he got the feeling Chiron wanted him to stay year-round, to put in some individual practise, but he wasn't sure what he wanted. He admitted he'd feel bad about leaving me alone, though with only Clarisse for company...  
I pursed my lips, he'd find out soon enough, then said quietly, "I'm going home for the year, Percy."  
Percy stared at me. "You mean, to your dad's?"  
I pointed towards the crest of Half-Blood hill. Next to Thalia's pine tree, at the very edge of the camp's magical boundaries, a family stood silhouetted- two little children (Bobby and Matthew), a woman (Harriat) and my dad with blonde hair. They were waiting. Dad was holding my back-pack that I had got from Waterland in Denver.  
"I wrote him a letter when we got back," I explained. "Just like you suggested. I told him... I was sorry. I'd come home for the school year if he still wanted me. He wrote back immediately. We decided... we'd give it another try."  
"That took guts."  
I pursed my lips. "You won't try anything stupid during the school year, will you? At least... not without sending me an iris-message?"  
Percy smiled. "I won't go looking for trouble. I usually don't have to."  
"When I get back next summer," I said. "We'll hunt down Luke. We'll ask for a quest, but if we don't get approval, we'll sneak off and do it anyway. Agreed?"  
"Sounds like a plan worthy of Athena."  
I held out my hand. He shook it.  
Percy was my best friend. Yes, Seaweed Brain was not just me friend. He was my best_est _friend.  
"Take care, Seaweed Brain," I told him. "Keep your eyes open."  
"You two, Wise Girl."  
I try not to think of the future- it comes soon enough.  
I walked up the hill to join my family. I gave my dad an awkward hug and looked back at the valley one last time. I touched Thalia's pine tree for good luck, and then allowed myself to be led over the crest and into the mortal world.  
So here I am, going off on my new adventure. Life is full of them, new surprises just don't stop coming.


End file.
